O2 has announced that existing customers will be offered the same handset and tariff deals as new customers in a bid to reduce network churn.

Churn is rife in the mobile phone business, and UK network operators lose an average of 30 per cent of customers each year as punters search for a better handset or tariff.

Attracting customers from other networks is paramount, but promotions aimed at doing so have often risked alienating existing punters, leaving operators in a no-win situation.

So O2 has decided to make the offers the same for both groups, which might stop some people leaving, but the mobile operator will need to maintain the quality of those offers if it's going to stop migration.

Customers who do decide to move to O2 will still be able to do so at a Carphone Warehouse store, thanks to the two companies extending their contract. ®

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