From this morning customers at Carphone Warehouse will be able to buy Virgin broadband, digital TV and phones from a special in-store services area showcasing the company.

Virgin claims the in-store services area will operate as a "one-stop shop for all [the customer's] communication needs", which is what we thought a Carphone Warehouse store was already supposed to be.

Carphone Warehouse already offers Virgin mobile phones, but this expansion means customers will be able to get all Virgin Media products in the Carphone Warehouse store. Some of those products, such as broadband, will compete directly with branded Carphone Warehouse offerings, but the company would prefer to be identified as an impartial stockist rather than a competing provider:

"We’ve built the business on impartial advice and we’re first to claim that position in broadband," said Charles Dunstone, CEO of The Carphone Warehouse.

What's increasingly clear is that the company needs a better name, and something less associated with a product that hasn't existed for 10 years.®

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