Last week, rival mobile operator Vodafone UK (>> Vodafone Group plc) announced the takeover of 140 Phones 4u stores, which the retailer's administrator PwC said on Monday was worth 12.4 million pounds, and retailer Dixons Carphone (>> Dixons Carphone PLC) agreed to take on 800 Phones 4u employees.

"We can confirm that we have agreed with the Phones 4u administrator to purchase 58 stores, safeguarding 359 jobs, subject to court approval," EE said in a statement, which was also confirmed by PwC.

Phones 4u entered administration on Sept. 15 after its last remaining network client EE decided against renewing its contract.

As part of EE's deal, 58 stores - without their inventories - and their employees will transfer to EE with immediate effect, and shops will be re-branded to EE. Most of them are expected to open in the next week, EE said.

"We consider that this represents the best potential outcome for creditors in the circumstances for these stores," PwC said.

The administrators said late on Monday that 362 Phones 4u stores would be closed and almost 1,700 employees made redundant. Another 720 employees have been retained in the short term to assist with the closure programme.

"It is a very sad day for the staff working at those locations and our thoughts are with them," PwC said in a statement.

Dixons Carphone plans to make a statement on Tuesday that it remains interested in acquiring 50 to 100 shops from Phones 4u, Sky News reported.

Dixons Carphone is finalising a list of the stores it is interested in acquiring, and intends to negotiate directly with the properties' landlords once they have been closed down, the broadcaster said.

(Reporting by Karolin Schaps and Supriya Kurane; editing by Jason Neely and Richard Chang)

Stocks treated in this article : Dixons Carphone PLC, Vodafone Group plc