Easymobile - the mobile wing of Stelios Haji Ioannou's easyGroup - is closing. Customers have until midnight on 13 December to move their phone service.

A message on the website says:"easyMobile.com in the UK was set up as a partnership between TDC (the telecom company from Denmark) and easyGroup (Stelios' investment vehicle). Due to a change of strategy at TDC, TDC have decided to withdraw from the UK market."

The message says the company will do its best to move people or to unlock their phones if they want to move to another provider instead of Fresh.

TDC said it was changing strategy - easymobile in Germany will be renamed callmobile and the UK business will close.

TDC's CEO Jesper Theill Eriksen said: "we are withdrawing from the UK market, as the realised growth in the customer base does not live up to TDC's original business plan expectations and as we do not believe that easyMobile UK hasthe potential to develop into a sizeable and profitable MVNO in the short term."

Late last week TDC bought out the remaining share of the German business from TIH Invest - TDC now owns the whole firm.

The mobile virtual network operator has been in business for almost two years. We've been contacted by several disappointed customers.

Read the whole statement here. ®