EE, UK’s largest mobile operators, has entered into a deal with Phones 4U administrators PwC to takeover up to 58 stores from the mobile company. Phones 4U nose-dived into administration last week.
“We can confirm that we have agreed with the Phones 4u administrator to purchase 58 stores, safeguarding 359 jobs, subject to court approval,” EE said in a statement.
As part of the deal, Phones 4U stores and employees will be transferred to EE with immediate effect, while the outlets will be re-branded to EE and will get opened in the next week.
The news comes after Vodafone announced on Friday that it had agreed to purchase 140 Phones 4u stores, saving 887 jobs, while Dixons Carphone said it has offered posts to the 800 Phones4U employees.
Phones 4U, which had 550 standalone stores and 5,596 employees, plunged into administration this Sunday after its key mobile supplier EE notified it would no longer continue business relationship with the UK retailer.
Phones 4u founder John Caudwell blamed the “extremely callous” mobile networks for the unpredictable demise of the UK mobile phone retailer. He said O2, Vodafone and EE’s decision to not to renew their contracts with Phones4U, which comes within six months of each other, appeared to be a “co-ordinated attempt to kill off” the retailer.
The three mobile firms O2, Vodafone and EE however rejected Caudwell’s claims. While EE claimed its decision to end its relationship with Phones 4U was based on its strategy to focus on its own shops and cut out intermediaries, Vodafone said it rejected any suggestion that it behaved inappropriately while negotiating with Phones4U and indicated that the retailer’s debt repayment schedule affected the discussions.
An O2 spokesperson said the company’s decision to cut business tie-up with Phones 4U was taken way back in 2012 as part of its regular sales distribution review.
