Carphone blames Virgin Mobile for woes

IN A rallying cry to the troops, the Carphone Warehouse is blaming Virgin Mobile for its first half loss of £4.7 million. Virgin Mobile France, that is.

In a message to the City, Carphone said, "This is no surprise and is simply down to the start up costs that we had to invest in order to launch our free broadband [Talk, Talk] and Virgin Mobile in France."

Virgin Mobile France just illustrates how complex rivalries in the mobile space are becoming. Virgin Mobile is, of course, now owned by NTL/Telewest. An arch rival to Carphone in the broadband market.

In France, Virgin Mobile actually runs over the Orange network. And Orange is, of course, owned by France Telecom which is in the process of re-branding its broadband operation, Wanadoo, as Orange.

Thus Carphone is making a big loss on its own broadband operation while simultaneously helping its broadband rivals, NTL and Orange, set up a virtual mobile network in France. Go figure.

The Virgin Mobile France web site is well worth a visit, however. It's taking Franglais to great new heights.

Personal favourites are 'Le must' - advertising a Samsung X680 and a menu caption of 'Best Offres'. µ

L'INQ
Virgin Mobile France