Manager Buzz

Britain’s biggest retailer Tesco has unveiled plans to become one of the UK’s leaders in telecoms services. The group has signed up with Cable&Wireless to bring broadband and home phone services to its large customer base.

A previous foray into the market was also quite successful for the retailer, with broadband services sold to customers in conjunction with Virgin Media. However, this time around, Tesco is prepared to walk alone, in a manner of speaking, by entering into a deal with a relatively smaller player in the broadband market.

Tesco hopes to make up for this with its own immense popularity as a retail chain in the UK. Almost one third of the cash spent on groceries in all UK households go into Tesco’s cash registers. The company’s huge presence in the market, with a retail store in every nook and corner, guarantees optimum exposure to the products on its shelves, including broadband bundles.

A five-year deal has been struck by Tesco with Cable & Wireless to offer bundled broadband and broadband phone related product packages. These will include home phones also. This plan to offer a mix of services is expected to be immensely popular with consumers. Once these packages hit the markets, even big players may find themselves being out-priced, leading to a fall in prices in the market.

Speaking about the proposed scheme, the retailer