Dextra loses £20m Tesco deal

Dextra has suffered a blow after losing a huge share of its multimillion-pound Tesco Mobile supply contract to rival distributors Shebang and Kondor, Mobile can reveal.

Shebang has struck a deal, believed to be worth £20m, to supply the supermarket with all its contract phones and software programs, and Kondor has taken 65% of Dextra’s mobile accessory contract.

Mobile recently revealed that Dextra’s sister company, 20:20, was losing its grip on the prized Tesco contract with the likes of Brightstar, Data Select and Unique emerging as more prominent distributors for the supermarket.

The loss of the Tesco contract to the much smaller Shebang has taken many industry experts by surprise.

Dextra has been in partnership with Tesco Mobile for around six years, supplying the supermarket with Sim packs, and mobile and landline accessories.

Three years into the deal in 2005, Tesco said the companies had jointly
grown their businesses threefold, which the supermarket described at the time as ‘a remarkable achievement’. However, the partnership appears to have weakened significantly since then, and the link seems to be becoming more tenuous in light of the recent contract wins by Dextra’s rivals.

Shebang will take over the running of the supply deal from this Monday (25 February).

Shebang’s MD Iain Humphrey (pictured) said: ‘It’s a huge one for us and a big step by Tesco.

‘From our point of view it demonstrates that we’re competitive with software and all the services we offer. It’s the whole Shebang!’

Kondor said it was unable to comment as it had signed a non-disclosure agreement with the supermarket.

Dextra was unavailable to comment.