SIR Richard Branson took his Virgin Mobile business across the Channel yesterday in an attempt to shake-up the French phone market.
The tycoon has joined forces with retailer Carphone Warehouse for the venture, which will run off the phone network of Orange and offer the same rates for pre-pay customers as contract holders.
It hopes to become the country's fourth largest phone operator, with a target of a million customers within three years.
Sir Richard predicted the business would open up competition in a market that he said had previously been driven by enforced loyalty to one operator.
Yesterday's launch marked the start of what is expected to be a significant week for the operator, as the FTSE 250 Index company is expected to announce it has agreed the terms of a £961m takeover by ntl. The cable group wants to create a communications operator offering a range of services to about nine million customers under the Virgin brand.
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