Carrefour supermarkets to sell phone services

NEWS Carrefour, France's largest retailer, has announced plans to sell and manage Omnicom phone services throughout its chain of supermarkets. Omnicom's fixed telephony licence, obtained last year, will enable Carrefour to offer customers a fixed-line service at prices up to 50 per cent lower than those of competitors Cegetel and France Telecom. According to an Omnicom spokesman, the deal "signals the end of the France Telecom-Cegetel duopoly on the household market." France Telecom had a state-controlled monopoly until its part privatisation in 1997. Omnicom's pre-paid cards and rechargeable Kertel cards will go on sale in outlets next week. Carrefour's phone service will only be available to Carte Pass payment card holders to minimise payment risks. With regular phone subscriptions on offer and ten minutes free call time for every FF1,000 spent in stores, Carrefour hopes to undercut national calls via France Telecom's network by 15 per cent. Carrefour's service begins next month.