CPW halves cost of mobile phone calls

'Fresh' smell of 'easy' competition

By Tim Richardson • Get more from this author

Posted in Mobile, 10th March 2005 13:03 GMT

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The Carphone Warehouse (CPW) has slashed the cost of its mobile phone service to trump the launch of a discount service from easyMobile.

The thunder-stealing move will see the cost of calls for CPW's Fresh service halved to 7.5p a minute and 2.5p for texts.

The new tariffs for Fresh - which has 120,000 users - come into force tomorrow.

easyMobile will charge a flat rate of 9p a minute for UK calls and 3p for text messages, the Evening Standard reports today. The new mobile telco, - which is run by Danish telecoms outfit TDC, piggybacks on T-Mobile's network and operates under the Easy brand - declined our requests to comment on the story.

But that hasn't stopped CPW from trying to scupper easyMobile's launch and, in particular, having a pop at its link with no-frills airline easyJet. Said CPW chief exec Charles Dunstone: "It's no coincidence that we've chosen today to launch our new Fresh tariffs. But the fact is that the mobile phone business is not an airline business.

"The price of mobile phones and the price of mobile calling has been falling every year for the 15 years we've been in existence. There is a big market for simple, low cost, no frills, everyday calls. We've helped create it. We're the price and service leader. We'll stay the price and service leader."

Fresh's new half-price deal - which will be reviewed after three months - will be carried out by punters receiving double the number of top-up credits for their cash. ®