VIRGIN Mobile and Carphone Warehouse yesterday confirmed they were in talks over the launch of a mobile phone service in France.
The joint venture would see Virgin phones sold in Carphone's Phone House outlets in France, as well as in Virgin Megastores.
The service will operate under the Virgin Mobile brand and use the Orange network. It is likely the two companies will invest a total of about £50m over three years.
The deal will inject competition into the French market which is currently dominated by just three players - Orange, Bouygues Telecom and the Vivendi and Vodafone-owned SFR network. It is understood that the new service will launch in the first half of 2006.
Virgin Mobile is part of Virgin Group and employs about 1,400 staff in the UK, including at its customer service centre in Middlesbrough.
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