Dave Lewis’s efforts to win back Tesco shoppers were dealt a blow on Tuesday when thousands of the retailer’s broadband users were left without a connection for a large part of the day.
A company spokesman confirmed that some of Tesco’s 75,000 broadband customers had experienced network problems. “We are liaising with our network partner to get the issue resolved as quickly as possible and apologise to any customers affected for the inconvenience,” he said.
He said the problems were not related to Tesco’s plans to transfer customers to the TalkTalk network later this year.
The problems emerged as Lewis prepared to reveal more details of his plans to revive Tesco, alongside losses that could be more than £3bn, the biggest in its history.
As he battles to repair Tesco’s finances after a traumatic year marked by a £263m accounting scandal, Lewis is set to unveil details of the sale of a majority stake in Dunhumby, the data analytics company behind Tesco’s loyalty card scheme, and a £3bn writedown of the value of its properties. The retailer is also expected to announce plans to tackle its £5bn pension deficit.
