Tesco Mobile CEO Anthony Vollmer has said there are huge opportunities for the MVNO following on from the failed merger between O2 and Three UK owners CK Hutchison.
The UK boss described the brand as one that would continue to stand on its ‘own two feet’. Vollmer said that new consumer offerings such as its Home from Home proposition was a key indicator of the MVNO’s strong market position.
The Euro watchdog’s deliberation process on the Three/O2 merger threw spotlight on Tesco Mobile, with rumours circulating that the MVNO wanted to buy O2’s 50% stake in the business. This was believed to part of the brand’s strategy to become entirely autonomous and play a greater role in the UK mobile market.
When two become one
According to Vollmer, this drive has not subsided, claiming that the post-merger opportunity for Tesco Mobile is huge. The brand recently scooped the Best MVNO gong at the Mobile Industry Awards 2016, also taking home this year’s Shop Idol crown.
‘It’s very much business as usual for us,’ he said. ‘Tesco Mobile is a product from an extremely successful partnership between O2 and Tesco, it’s a unique one and a scaled business which stands very much on own two feet and that's what we’ll continue to do. We were involved in the merger process but it's reached the conclusion it has but the opportunity for the business is still huge.
‘Propositions like Home from Home are an excellent demonstration of the fact we didn’t plan on any particular outcome. Both Tesco and O2 are really committed to the joint venture. There’s a range of views on how the merger would have affected the UK wholesale market but our motivation through the process was the make sure we would continue to be customer champion after the merger.’
