More than 500 Phones 4u stores have been closed after the retail chain plunged into administration, putting 5,600 jobs into jeopardy.
The collapse follows a shock decision by EE to join Vodafone in cutting ties with the retailer, which sells contracts on behalf of the network operators.
A decision is pending from administrators PwC on whether the business can be reopened for trading.
Phones 4u has 59 stores in Scotland, employing around 600 people.
Entrepreneur John Caudwell, who set up the operation in the 1980s before selling it for £1.5 billion in 2006, said he was "sickened and saddened" for the nearly 6,000 staff who work for the Staffordshire-based firm.
In an interview at the weekend, he blamed the "ruthless behaviour" of the network operators for the demise of the business.
Phones 4u said the decision by EE not to renew its contract, which is due to end in September 2015, came as a "complete shock" and meant it would be left without a network partner after Vodafone said it would not extend its agreement.
The company is owned by private-equity firm BC Partners and has 550 standalone stores, employing 5,596 people.
EE said its decision not to renew its contract was in part driven by uncertainty over the long-term viability of Phones 4u.
Vodafone said: "Phones 4u was offered repeated opportunities to propose competitive distribution terms to enable us to conclude a new agreement but was unable to do so on terms which were commercially viable for Vodafone in the current UK market conditions.
"We were told by the Phones 4u management team that they had a number of alternative strategies in place if we could not reach an agreement with them."
Phones 4u chief executive David Kassler said: "If the mobile-network operators decline to supply us, we do not have a business.
"A good company making profits of more than £100 million and employing thousands of decent people has been forced into administration.
"The result will be less competition, less choice and higher prices for customers in the UK."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article