Hundreds of c-stores took part in a day of action on July 11 to
protest against Vodafone's 1% cut in retailers' margin for mobile phone top-ups.

The success of the initial protest has prompted Kevin Hunt, the Spar retailer behind the campaign, to call for a further boycott of Vodafone products. Over 6000 stores have so far pledged their support for the protest.

Kevin said: "I’m proposing two days of action this week, on Friday 18th and Saturday 19th. However, for this to be much more effective, we need more retailers and stores to sign up.

"Therefore, I'm asking everyone to e-mail the link to our website, www.topupratecut.biz to as many fellow retailers as possible, and ask them to support the campaign."

Kevin added that he is looking at ways to support networks other than Vodafone. "From next week I will be giving away SIM cards for the other networks to Vodafone customers, in an effort to persuade them to switch," he said. "I am also looking at my business handset account, with the intention that Vodafone will not have my business in the future."

Vodafone has said the rate cut would fund investment that would lead to more use of mobile phone services and greater footfall for convenience retailers.