GWENT jobs at a collapsed retail chain hang in the balance as two mobile operators offer to take over 198 of the firm’s stores.

Gwent has at least seven Phones 4u stores, three in Newport, two in Torfaen and two in Caerphilly county, out of nationwide total of around 700 shops.

Neither EE nor Vodafone would tell the Argus which stores they had agreed to buy, but a spokeswoman for EE said the employees will be transferred to them with immediate effect and stores will be re-branded, with most planning to re-open in the next week.

Phones 4u had an annual turnover of £1 billion with 5,596 employees, but went into administration after the two major mobile operators decided not to renew their contracts.

Staff have been asked to stay at home while talks take place.

Last week nearly 900 jobs were saved nationwide when Vodafone struck a deal to buy 140 of the shops, while EE has offered to buy a further 58 shops for £2.5 million and protect 359 jobs.

But administrator PwC said it had failed to prevent 628 redundancies among head office and telesales staff in England.

PwC said it is continuing talks with other parties about the purchase of assets and said it planned to keep a further 400 head office staff to help with its work.

Dixons Carphone said on Wednesday it would take on 800 staff who worked at 160 Phones 4u outlets inside Currys and PC World stores.

PwC partner Rob Hunt said their thoughts are with affected employees at this “difficult time”.

He said: “We will make every effort to help the affected staff, working with the Phones 4u human resources team over the coming days to support employees.”

Referring to EE’s purchase, he said: “As with the Vodafone transaction, we consider that this represents the best potential outcome for creditors in the circumstances, although it remains subject to the approval of the UK courts.”