Vodafone walks away from Carphone Warehouse in Ireland

Ireland’s biggest mobile operator will no longer sell phones or plans in the country’s largest standalone mobile phone retailer.

Carphone Warehouse is to lose Vodafone’s business in Ireland

Adrian Weckler Twitter Email

March 11 2021 11:00 AM

Carphone Warehouse, which has 82 stores around the country, has been dealt a blow with the news that the country’s largest operator, Vodafone Ireland, is to stop selling its phones and plans in the chain.

The move will kick in from April. Customers who bought their Vodafone phones or plans through Carphone Warehouse will continue to be “supported”, a spokesperson told Independent.ie.

A Vodafone spokesperson said that the operator is concentrating on its own sales channels from now on.

“We continuously review our business models and processes,” a Vodafone spokesperson told Independent.ie. “We have taken a decision not to renew our commercial contract with Carphone Warehouse.”

The operator, he said, “is focused on providing a simplified, omni-channel approach to sales and service through our online sales channels and through our network of Vodafone retail stores across the country”.

It’s a significant setback for Carphone Warehouse, a sister company of Currys and which is owned by Dixons Carphone. The company trades on the strength of being a one stop shop for all of Ireland’s biggest operators. It means that it now has a minority of mobile operator brands on board, with Three, Eir, Virgin and Lyca.

This comes at a time when new budget entrants such as GoMo, 48 and Clear Mobile are chipping away at largest brands, while other players such as Tesco Mobile have built up substantial market share in Ireland.

Carphone Warehouse is still licking the wounds of a €20m loss on its own mobile operator, iD Mobile, launched in 2015. After struggling to gain customers, it folded in 2018.

A spokesperson for Carphone Warehouse said that it remains “committed” to its mobile business in Ireland. Anyone who has a Vodafone contract through Carphone Warehouse can continue to have it serviced through the retailer for the duration of the contract.

“After a successful partnership spanning nearly two decades, our contract to sell Vodafone pre and post-pay in Carphone Warehouse Ireland will come to an end in April,” the spokesperson told Independent.ie. “We’re committed to our mobile category and we’re underway with our strategy for mobile in Ireland as we move to a truly omnichannel approach, to provide our customers with the amazing tech they want, whenever and wherever they want it. We’ll continue to offer our customers market leading connectivity and broadband offers through our partners Three, Eir, Sky, Virgin and Lyca Mobile as well as an extensive range of top branded handsets and accessories. Our support for customers currently on a Vodafone connection are unaffected by the news.”