A number of jobs at two Phones 4U stores in Bath have been put at risk after the mobile phone retailer was placed into administration.
Both of the retailer’s stores in Bath, one in Southgate and another in Union Street, have been closed today by the owner, private equity firm BC Partners.
The company have blamed mobile network EE for their sudden collapse, after it was announced it would not be renewing its contract to supply contracts through them.
Phones 4U’s Managing Director David Kassler said: “If mobile network operators decline to supply us, we do not have a business.”
Vodafone also announced it wouldn’t be renewing their contracts with the retailer earlier in September.
Phones 4U have said mobile contracts that had already been taken out through them would be unaffected, although all outstanding orders would be.
Staff at all of the 550 stores across the UK have been told to turn up to work as normal, where they’d be given further details on the future of the business.
BC Partners said that EE’s contract should have expired next September.
Phones 4U was one of the last retailers on the high street where mobile phones and contracts could be bought without going through a network directly.
The reduced lack of competition has meant that Phones 4U has struggled to maintain a prominent position in the market.
