Broadband News

Carphone Warehouse set for major expansion

(24-04-07) - The Carphone Warehouse network is now reaching a record number of households, and is preparing for further global expansion over the next year, according to plans released today.

Carphone Warehouse, the mobile, home phone and broadband giant has released figures detailing its successes over the past 12 months, and its plans for the future, which include very ambitious subscriber targets and a major investment in customer services. (visit www.talktalk.co.uk)

The company’s network has now unbundled 1650 out of 5000 or so UK exchanges. Carphone Warehouse intends to roll out its next generation telecoms network to each one.

The company currently has 2,271,000 subscriptions to its broadband service (a large proportion via is acquisition of AOL), of which 665,000 signed up within the past 12 months. It has set a target of 3.5 million broadband customers and 4.5 million residential customers by March 2010.

Carphone Warehouse is also planning 250 new stores across Europe, and will be investing heavily in growth in the US mobile market.

Chris Eagle, Commercial Manager at www.broadbandchoices.co.uk, commented: “The level of growth is staggering, but a recent Watchdog survey highlighted that improvements need to be made to TalkTalk’s customer service. We think that Carphone Warehouse should focus on sorting out these problems in the UK before expanding so dramatically, especially with so many customers still suffering.”

Charles Dunstone, CEO of Carphone Warehouse, has said “we are confident that our increased investment in customer service will deliver a much improved customer experience”, but will it be enough? Or will this investment only end up giving the same poor level of service to millions more consumers?