Sainsbury’s has announced its plans today to become the next UK MVNO – a mobile network based on a bigger network – as the company will soon be launching its own mobile network.
The service will be called Mobile by Sainsbury’s and the network will be a partnership with Vodafone where Sainsbury’s will ‘piggyback’ on Voda and share signal of the parent network.
Mobile by Sainsbury’s will run in direct competition with other Mobile Virtual Network Operators like Tesco Mobile, Asda Mobile, and to some extent Virgin Mobile, where the company will not have their own network infrastructure but will instead work in partnership with a major network (in this case Vodafone) who will provide the network signal and Sainsbury’s can then set their own pricing and choose which handsets to offer.
Sainsbury’s’ new UK network will run as a joint venture with Vodafone and it will see supermarkets selling a Sainsbury’s brand of mobile phone and tariffs under the Mobile by Sainsbury’s brand.
The new service was announced by Justin King, Sainsbury’s CEO, earlier today;
“We are delighted to announce this partnership. Together with Vodafone, we’ll be able to develop mobile products and services that represent great value for Sainsbury’s customers,”
Asda and Tesco both have moderately successful UK networks on the go at the moment with Tesco recently launching a new ad campaign focusing around its cheap prices and current handsets. We don’t expect any of the other rivals to be quaking in their boots but Sainsbury’s should be able to get a decent foothold with its all-in-one branding and the inclusion of customers being able to earn Nectar Clubcard points with their mobile phone tariff.
Mobile by Sainsbury’s will launch later this summer but at this moment no pricing and handsets have been made public.