Carphone Warehouse gives away 100,000 free mobiles


4 Jan 2006

At a time when mobile phone ownership in Ireland has hit the 100pc mark according to ComReg, The Carphone Warehouse is contributing to further growth by giving handsets away for free.

At a time when mobile phone ownership in Ireland has hit the 100pc mark according to ComReg, The Carphone Warehouse is contributing to further growth by giving handsets away for free.

The retailer has announced that it is giving away 100,000 phones free of charge this month through its 45 stores around Ireland. The offer, which is open until the end of January, is subject to a 12-month post pay connection to certain networks.

There are 16 handset models available as part of the offer. These are the LG U8138, Motorola E1000, Nokia 6280 and the K608i from Sony Ericsson (all available on the 3 network). There are 10 phones available on subscription to Meteor: Motorola’s V3, the Panasonic VS6 and Samsung X460 as well as seven Nokia models, the 1600, 3220, 6020, 5140i, 6101, 6230i and 7260. The offer is rounded out by two handsets available with a connection to Vodafone: Samsung’s ZV10 and the Sharp GX25.

The Carphone Warehouse claims to be the only mobile phone store to offer connections to all four mobile networks in Ireland: Vodafone, O2, Meteor and 3. When advising customers which phone, tariff and network is most suitable for their needs, company staff refer to the www.callcosts.ie website, which was set up by the telecoms regulator ComReg last year to make mobile phone pricing more transparent for the public.

Stephen Mackarel, CEO of Carphone Warehouse Ireland, claimed that this was the first time the company had been able to offer as many free phones on a selection of networks. “This is a direct result of increased competition in the market with four networks now on offer in Ireland,” he said.

By Gordon Smith