The high street mobile phone retailer Phones 4U has gone into administration putting 5,596 jobs at risk.
The move comes after both Vodafone and EE decided not to renew their contracts with the company, which is owned by private equity firm BC Partners.
In a statement on the company’s website, it said:
“Following the unexpected decision of EE and Vodafone to withdraw supply from Phones4U , we regret that we are offline. Please accept our apologies and we will update you as soon as possible”
Stefano Quadrio Curzio of BC Partners claimed that Vodafone acted in a way to inflict the greatest damage to Phones 4U as the mobile network looked to sign up more customers directly.
However, Vodafone rejected claims that it acted improperly in terminating its contracts with Phones 4U, and instead pinned the blame on BC Partners who it said loaded the company with high interest debt so that they could collect a £200 million windfall.
Phones 4U has closed all its 550 stores across the UK, but said that staff should turn up to work to be given further details. They also assured workers that they would continue to be paid until further notice.
The company said that customers with established mobile phone contracts would be unaffected, but warned that customers who have made orders but not yet received their phones, such as those who ordered the iPhone 6 over the weekend, would be. Customers affected have been asked to call customer service on 0844 8712253.
