Tesco moves into telecoms market
Supermarket giant Tesco today announced a move into the UK telecoms market.
Britain’s biggest grocer is expected to slash prices for fixed line phone calls after confirming a deal with Cable & Wireless.
Tesco Telecom will launch in the spring giving households across the UK access to supermarket-style offers for their phone calls.
Callers will not be forced to sign expensive lock-in contracts for the service, which will use state of the art C&W carrier pre-selection technology. The system abolishes the need for users to use PIN codes and prefix numbers or install special boxes to access new telecom services.
Tesco chief executive Terry Leahy said: “Customers tell us they want a more convenient way to lower their phone bills. Because we think like retailers, not like a utility company, we will give customers supermarket-style offers; and a simple alternative to the lock-in contracts and complex billing systems that they hate.”
Tesco Telecom is the latest stage of the company’s strategy to develop new retail services with expert partners to give customers value.
The supermarket already provides cut-price financial services through a link-up with Royal Bank of Scotland with more than three million customers signed up in its first four years.
Besides C&W, Tesco has signed agreements with Servista to provide billing support, and Vertex Customer Management for customer support service.
