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LONDON, July 1 (Reuters) - J Sainsbury, Britain'sthird-biggest supermarkets operator, said on Monday it is toenter the mobile phone service market later this year as itseeks to add more business streams to complement its coregrocery offer.
The firm, which trails Tesco and Wal-Mart's Asda by annual revenue, said it has teamed up with Vodafone to create the "Mobile by Sainsbury's" network service.
Details of the joint venture's product range and pricingwill be announced at launch later this summer.
Sainsbury's currently sells mobile phones and offers prepaySIM cards for other networks but does not provide its ownvirtual network service. Tesco has been offering mobile servicessince 2003.
Going into new business markets forms a core part ofSainsbury's strategy. Over the last year it has entered themarkets for eBooks, mp3 downloads and video on demand services.
In May the firm bought out the 50 percent of the Sainsbury'sBank joint venture with Lloyds Banking Group it did notown.
Last month Sainsbury's outperformed Tesco with a rise infirst-quarter like-for-like sales.
Shares in the firm were down 0.3 pence at 355.2 pence at0819 GMT, valuing the business at 6.75 billion pounds ($10.2billion). ($1=0.6593 British pounds) (Reporting by James Davey; Editing by Greg Mahlich)
