Dixon Carphone and Vodafone have extended and expanded their long-standing relationship, with the operator becoming the former’s “exclusive mobile network partner”.
The deal means Vodafone tariffs will continue to be available across Dixons Carphone’s online and high street retail channels, while the Newbury-based operator’s network will power the retailer’s as-yet-undetailed “new mobile offer”.
Vodafone is the final major mobile operator to have a presence in Carphone Warehouse, with EE, O2 and Three all withdrawing in the past few years to focus on their direct retail efforts. Meanwhile, Dixons Carphone is currently in the middle of its own transformation programme initiated by CEO Alex Baldock.
Dixons Carphone-Vodafone partnership
Specifically, Dixons Carphone believes the market is shifting away from lengthy contracts that tie airtime to specific devices and believes its new proposition will help address this challenge. Securing Vodafone as the network partner is a major step forward for this project, more details of which will be revealed later this year.
The company already has its own MVNO, iD Mobile, which is currently powered by Three’s radio network.
“We’re delighted to develop our long-term partnership with Vodafone which will see them become our exclusive MNO partner ahead of our new mobile offer launching later this year,” declared Ed Connolly, Chief Commercial Officer, Dixons Carphone.
“Together, we’ll provide an exciting and innovative new mobile offering designed with modern customers’ needs in mind. The new offer will give customers better flexibility, transparency and value and is the final step in the transformation of our mobile business.”
“This is a very exciting new agreement for us, that ensures connectivity to our award-winning network is made available to even more people across the UK,” added Max Taylor, Consumer Director, Vodafone.
“This is a completely new and exclusive arrangement, which will drive customer experience improvements and value growth for both parties. The partnership gives us the opportunity to work more closely together than ever before, focusing on creating more innovative mobile solutions for customers.”
In October, the Carphone Warehouse brand will disappear from the high street when Dixons rebrands all of its 300 stores as Curry’s. More than 500 standalone Carphone Warehouse stores were shut last year.
Baldock’s turnaround programme has seen £190 million invested in staff training and employee programmes, new services, and technology that it hopes will allow it to adapt to changing consumer habits.
A new cloud platform ensures a consistent IT environment for staff and customers across multiple channels, while there has also been investment in virtual shopping and repair services and in-store technology.