Carphone Warehouse launches MVNO on Three network

Carphone Warehouse has formally unveiled its MVNO, which will use the Three mobile network. Named iD, the MVNO is positioning itself as addressing customer frustrations, which CPW considers itself in a strong position to understand.

“We’ve been listening to our millions of customers’ network requirements and desires for years,” said Graham Stapleton, UK CEO at CPW. “In doing so we have identified some common challenges. People want greater flexibility from their plans and are fed up with the ‘one size fits all’ approach.

“In fact, a recent study by Which? found that overspend on mobile phone charges in the UK amounts to £5.42billion each year – showing just how many people aren’t on the right plan for them. We are also a generation obsessed with the mobile internet and accessing data and services on the move – things people are either paying too much for or just aren’t getting. Addressing these challenges forms the basis of the first wave of plans from iD.”

When the network becomes available in May it will seek to address these pain-points through bill transparency, contact flexibility and strong European roaming options. “This is just the beginning,” persisted Stapleton. “We know that there are lots more customer issues and frustrations with existing mobile plans that we’re eager to tackle. We want this network to be focused on the individual and we will continue to listen to customers over the coming months, asking them to help develop and evolve iD.”

The intriguing dynamic for CPW is how to reconcile this initiative with its core business, which is reselling contacts from other networks. Right now it offers contracts from all the major UK networks bar Three and it will be interesting to see how it incentivises its sales force. CPW’s network partners are presumably OK with this for now, but that could change at any time.