STELIOS HAJI-IOANNOU, the serial entrepreneur, has added a mobile phone venture to his easyGroup stable after striking a deal with TDC, the Danish telecoms group.

Mr Haji-Ioannou said easyMobile should be running in the UK by the end of the year. The venture could, however, run into immediate trouble with one of its competitors.

Mr Haji-Ioannou said easyMobile would adopt the easyGroup brand’s distinctive orange colour. That prospect has attracted threats of legal action by Orange, the mobile phone business owned by France Télécom.

Mr Haji-Ioannou said any such claims would be without foundation.

Unlike his control over previous ventures, including internet cafes and a car rental business, he will let TDC operate easyMobile, lending it only his brand name.

EasyMobile will be targeted at price-conscious phone users, and will offer pre-paid contracts over the Internet to reduce its cost base.

Mr Haji-Ioannou would not disclose easyMobile’s start-up costs, nor its ownership structure. He did say, however, that marketing expenses would run into the millions of pounds.

TDC is yet to sign up a mobile network operator to run its UK service.

The deal covers 11 other European countries, including Germany, France and Italy. Mr Haji-Ioannou said the expansion of easyMobile into those countries would depend on its success in the UK.

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