Ex-T-Mobile boss to steer easyMobile’s UK assault

Former T-Mobile marketing chief Sandy Munro has joined easyMobile to spearhead a heavyweight marketing campaign aimed at establishing the virtual network as a major player in the UK mobile market.

EasyMobile, the no-frills service which sells SIM cards over the internet, is said to have attracted only a few thousand customers since its launch two months ago. However, Stelios Haji-Ioannou – chief executive of easyGroup, which launched the company with Danish telecoms company TCD and T-Mobile – said at a recent conference in London: “I wouldn’t pay too much attention. This is early days.”

Munro, who took up the new role of chief commercial officer at the start of May, reports to easyMobile chief executive Frank Rasmussen.

Munro resigned as T-Mobile UK marketing director in November after two years in the post (MW November 25) but was expected to stay with the company in a different capacity. However, he was replaced by Unilever Bestfoods marketer Philip Chapman at the start of this year and subsequently left the telecoms company without a job to go to.

Haji-Ioannou vowed in an exclusive interview with Marketing Week earlier this year to shake-up the mobile phone industry with his new venture (MW March 3).

Munro says it is too early to give specific details about the marketing campaign but it is thought the company will spend about £1m on advertising over the next few months.

Like its rival Virgin Mobile, easyMobile rents T-Mobile’s network. It is embroiled in a legal dispute with Orange, France Telecom’s mobile arm, over its use of the colour orange.