Tesco takes on phone market with own brand

Tesco is adding phones to food, with an own-brand mobile offer expected to pull in 2 million customers.

The leading grocer already sells pre-paid phones for other networks and will now become a telecoms service provider in its own right.

It is yet to be decided whether new handsets will bear the Tesco name.

However, a spokesman said packaging and point-of-sale material would 'make clear it was a Tesco mobile.' The joint venture with O2, called Tesco Mobile, launches later this year.

- This Tuesday, Carphone Warehouse reported preliminary pre-tax profits of£57 million on sales of£1.84 billion.