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France Telecom's Amena, Phone House In MVNO Spanish JV

MADRID -(Dow Jones)- The Phone House, a unit of the UK's Carphone Warehouse Group, and Spanish mobile operator Amena Wednesday said that they have reached an agreement for The Phone House to become the first virtual cellphone operator in Spain.

In a joint press release, the companies said The Phone House is planning to offer cellular phone subscriptions within the next few months through its network of 400 stores across Spain.

Amena, which was recently acquired by French telecommunications giant France Telecom, will provide the network capacity required to operate in the country.

A mobile virtual network operatorleases all or most of its capacity from other operators and then sells it on to customers, saving the cost of building and maintaining a network.

Several other companies, including Tele 2, Jazztel and department store chain El Corte Ingles - Spain's largest retailer by sales - have also said that they're planning to launch MVNO services.

The Phone House already is a virtual operator in several European countries.