LONDON (Alliance News) - Supermarket J Sainsbury PLC said it will close its mobile phone service from January 2016, having only launched the joint venture with Vodafone Group PLC back in 2013.
According to The Times, the service has added only 150,000 customers since its launch and Sainsbury's has decided to pull out of the market due to the slow take-up, with plans for the Mobile by Sainsbury's service to go dark on January 15, 2016.
Sainsbury's had previously attempted to enter the mobile market in 2001 via Sainsbury's One, a partnership with O2, then BT Cellnet. That attracted only 60,000 users and was pulled from the market in 2003.
The Times said the decision to pull out came after months of talks with Vodafone about the unit, which needed a big injection of funds in order to better compete with rival services from Tesco PLC and Asda Ltd.
By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance
Copyright 2015 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
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