Tesco to pump $12.3 million into VoIP provider Freshtel

Stuart Corner
Wednesday, 22 November 2006 05:20

Business IT - Technology

The Tesco service launched in January 2006, initially to a limited number of Tesco's stores and has now rolled out to over 380 of Tesco's premium stores across the UK. "The launch has been carefully planned through a phased roll out and was followed in July by Tesco's very significant media and marketing campaign from which we have seen strong growth in customer numbers," Carew said

In June Freshtel also launched a retail VoIP service in the UK under its own brand name. Carew told the AGM: "This dual distribution model is an evolution of our strategy as we came to realise during the year that although Tesco is the largest retailer in the UK, there is scope to more fully saturate the market outside of our Tesco relationship. The rapid uptake from other retailers highlights not only the appeal of the model, but also the quality of our product and the strength of the relationship between Binatone [which supplies Freshtel's handsets]  and many of the retailers."

At 30 June Freshtel had a total of 351,000 users on its network across wholesale and retail and the UK and Australia.