Peter Scott, managing director, Carphone Warehouse Ireland
Carphone Warehouse Ireland managing director Peter Scott tells us about the company’s plans to establish a new mobile network in Ireland through a partnership with Three, and what this network will offer to stand out from the competition.
As part of Three’s purchase of O2 Ireland, the EU laid down some conditions that the mobile operator would have to provide network capacity to two mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) in order to facilitate competition in the market.
UPC was the first to sign an MVNO deal with Hutchison Whampoa-owned Three and next in line to launch its own network in 2015 is Carphone Warehouse, which announced the creation of 50 jobs as a result of the deal.
Carphone Warehouse plans to have its mobile network service live by July next year, by which time Three will have boosted its 4G infrastructure in Ireland.
The mobile network will work independently to the retailer as a separate business with a different leadership team and, for customers visiting the chain’s 90-plus stores nationwide, there will simply be another network operator to choose from.
To stand out from rival networks, Carphone Warehouse plans to offer competitive tariffs and propositions that address a need for more flexibility than is currently available on the market. There’s also the possibility of a good deal for Samsung devices through the company’s strong partnership with the South Korean smartphone-maker.
One thing that is for sure, though: the new network will drop the somewhat outdated ‘carphone’ from its branding – a word that’s not even recognised by some smartphone dictionaries.
