Just seen it being reported elsewhere that Sainsburys Mobile is closing on the 15th January 2016.

Another Ovivo style "issue" it seems with Vodafone failing to agree new terms with them.

Well if true that maybe proves that story true a while back about Vodafone and sainsburys.

Sad news for competition in the market.

Ovivo was in dispute with the MVNA though wasn't it? Presumably the aggregator pulled the plug because they were owed money by Ovivo.

I'm not sure Sainsbury's have that kind of relationship as they are 50% owned by Vodafone.

Their website doesn't talk about plans anymore, just what SIM free phones they sell.

It's a shame as they are basically Vodafone but without the same rip-off PAYG rates as Vodafone.

I'm guessing they'll be handing out PACs but what about any credit? I assume they can't take that away

I was thinking this, as wasn't this like their take on the o2/Tesco deal? I guess it all depends on the customer numbers, Tesco cracked the market years ago and have built up a fairly substantial customer base. I suspect one of the largest MVNO's?

Virgin Mobile/Media was the largest MVNO; and the first in the world I think - hosted by T-mobile, now EE. - VM doesn't offer 4G, so wonder if that is costing them customers.

Tesco was second in subscriber numbers, and do now offer 4G. A much better offering than the incredibly slow GiffGaff.

Interesting as would have thought Tesco would be larger than Virgin. However there are only a few MVNOs with 4g access and lest be honest, one is going to own a network soon and the other 2 are owned / part owned by o2.

Doesn't bode well for long term competition.

Wikipedia says Virgin Mobile had 4.1million subscribers in 2007 when Branson sold to NTL:Telewest (giving them the ability to rename the group Virgin Media) - and it was founded in 1999. The VM press release in 2013 says 61% of their 3 million mobile customers have smartphones. http://investors.virginmedia.com/pho...cle&ID=1872882

Tesco Mobile has 4 million customers apparently in 2015.

So Tesco overtook Virgin Mobile and Virgin Media seems to have lost mobile customers. Most of my friends with Virgin cable TV and internet have EE or Three mobile phones. The VM phone service is not impressive.

They had ambitions to move into contracts as well. This is the only source I can find at the moment:

http://www.bitterwallet.com/mobile-b...ary-2016/88389

It probably doesn't help that Virgin Media mobile seems to be more of a vehicle for their cable products. It's the BT Sport of mobile companies - you can buy it on its own but we'd really rather you bought another service from us too.

VM landline phone service is probably an afterthought these days - the equipment dates from the early days of cable TV and its operations are all outsourced to BT Wholesale. Doesn't stop them charging £17 a month for it, or almost make it mandatory through ensuring the broadband only price is not much lower than BB+phone

4m customers on a MVNO isn't bad at all when you think about it. I suspect Tesco have the threat like most networks do of BT coming into the market, however if the market remains as it is (3/o2 merger blocked) then you could see Tesco making in roads into 3 ..as o2 will have a decent 4g network where 3 have very little to offer on this front.

I wonder what the Sainsburys mobit sub's base was? I can't see those figures on Google.

Some accurate numbers

At the end of 2014:

Virgin Mobile 3.05 million
Tesco 4.42 million

Fair play to Tesco. That is an impressive MVNO.

Yes and Tesco's numbers grew by 400k in 2014 (Virgin was down 7k).

Also 2.06m of Tesco's total are contract.

Tesco Mobile was under scrutiny by the new CEO and was, at one time, rumoured to be under threat of closure itself. Is it now on a solid long-term footing?

I don't think Tesco is a threat to Three in any way.

Why? With growth like that and better coverage going forward they really could make inroads. I suspect if this story is true they will try and attract the Sainsburys mobile customers.

Yes, but it uses the O2 network, with isn't great last time I heard.

That statement gets less and less correct with the expansion of cornerstone. In the areas that they have upgraded, cornerstone has a really dense and wide range of coverage.

Maybe it will simply merge into Vodafone, thoughif BitterWallet is the appointed news messenger that is more unlikely.

If it was a 50/50 investment partnership then Voda are equally responsible for any messy closure.

The closure is now officially confirmed on their website.


http://www.phoneshopbysainsburys.co.uk/mbs

Any similar Vodafone MVNOs?

8p per minute
4p per text

Seems a bit half-assed that there isn't even an official method of moving to proper Vodafone PAYG including retaining credit.

Seems to have been acrimonious, so no cooperation between the "divorcing" couple.

Got the text 10 minutes ago to say it won't be available from 15th January. Thats Ovivo, Sainsburys ....... where next ? I have a 3 sim so probably there.