“The Phone House” brand will leave the market before the end of the year. Furthermore, between 14 and 19 stores will close, with no redundancies, and the other stores will become Proximus Centers, announced Proximus on Thursday, after competition authorities let it be known that it is no longer mandatory for Proximus to offer products from other telecoms operators in its “The Phone House” stores, earlier in the day. This obligation had been imposed to Belgacom at the end of 2011, when they took over the “The Phone House” brand. But the competition authority reckons that mobile phone market conditions have now changed.
The repercussions will be swift: between now and the end of the year, 20-25 “The Phone House” stores will change over to Proximus Centers selling only Proximus services. The remaining stores will close. Jobs form these stores will, however, be safe as the staff will be transferred to other stores, said a Proximus spokesperson.
(Source: Belga)
