Ikea launches British MVNO

by Chris Ziegler, posted Aug 5th 2008 at 1:42PM

We figure that you've already made ten jokes in your head by now after reading the headline -- you know, about how the phones come in thirty pieces, have diabolical names like "Kramfors," and look like they belong in dorm rooms -- so we're going to spare you and get straight to the point for a change of pace. The furniture empire's UK division has launched an MVNO on T-Mobile's backbone (not to be confused with those little Ikea Mobile kiosks in the US) that follows its sofa mantra to the letter: cheap and simple. It's a prepaid service that requires an initial £10 (about $20) investment, and if we had to guess, the phones themselves are probably about as basic as they come. Would we buy a Samsung "Ektorp"? Hell yeah, we would.