Mobile retailers are cashing in on cut-price leases in shopping areas with up to 15% of empty sites.

Orange, Vodafone and Virgin are among the mobile firms using the price cuts to fund store expansion.

A report by property agent Cushman & Wakefield has revealed that average retail voids have reached 11.2% and are up to 15% in the most affected areas due to an increase in retailers going bust.

However, many in the retail industry believe that mobile retail has become saturated and there were too many shops already.

Vodafone plans to open 30 stores by the end of this month, while Orange wants 50 new stores. Virgin has 40 locations, and is looking to open 10 to 15 of those. T-Mobile said it had ‘modest growth plans’ but 3 does not have any immediate plans for more stores.