The website of Alex Kinch, live from London
Financial
Orange introduce £5/month 36-month tariff
Jun 1st
Orange have unveiled a new range of pay monthly tariffs – including a £5/month deal – with a whopping 36-month tie-in – that it claims ‘is the ‘lowest price in the market’.
The company has also unveiled £10 and £15 monthly plans – again with a 36-month contract.
Whilst the 36 month length may seem a little harsh (and quite possibly a new record for the industry), the new plan does give you a new handset when you sign-up and another at the 18-month onwards mark – plus bundled minutes and texts. But what can you expect for such a long tie-in?
The £5 tariff gives you 50 bundled minutes a month, 50 texts and a Nokia 2630 handset. On the £10 the deal goes up to 100 bundled minutes, 300 texts and a Nokia 3600 handset. Jump the giddy heights of £15 a month and you’ll get 200 minutes, ‘unlimited’ texts (for an unspecified limited time only, mind) and a shiny new Nokia 6500 slide.
Not content with announcing all that lot, Orange have also introduced new 18-month SIM Only contracts. The ‘Dolphin’ packages start at £10/month (Dolphin 10) for 100 minutes and 500 texts, and go up to £30/month (Dolphin 30) which comes with 1600 minutes, ‘unlimited’ texts and 500MB of data allowance.
Reminder: Payforit seminar tonight in London
May 21st
The ‘Where is Payforit Today?’ seminar is tonight (Thursday 21st May) in London – if you haven’t already signed up you’ve still got time to register.
The event will bring together key industry experts for a review and discussion of the evolution and growth of Payforit since its launch two years ago, and look at new developments to this payment system such as Web Payforit and Single Click, as well as the progression of the mobile payments industry.
Speakers include Guiom Peersman (Managing Director, Dialogue), Iain McCallum (Head of Payments, O2) and Rory Maguire (Head of Payments, Three), and the event kicks off at 6pm at the Fitzrovia Hotel, 20-28 Bolsover St, London, W1W 5NB.
To register click here. I’ll be at the event (thanks to Dialogue and BCS PR for arranging) and bringing a full review of the event to you in the next few days, so come grab me and say hello if you attend.
O2 UK unveil strong Q1 2009 financial results
May 13th
O2’s parent company Telefónica Europe have unveiled their Q1 2009 financial results – with mobile division O2’s UK customer base growing 20% year on year to 20.8m.
The operator added 141,753 customers in the first three months of 2009, with 42.6% of all customers on a post-pay monthly contract. In addition, non-SMS revenue was up by 42%, driven mainly by an increase in the number of mobile broadband connections and the continued success of high-end phones such as BlackBerry and the iPhone.
Matthew Key, Chairman and Chief Executive of O2’s parent company, commented: “Telefónica Europe continues to go from strength to strength, outperforming our competitors by investing in customer experience as a means to drive sustainable growth and emerge from this recession fitter and stronger than before.
“In spite of a tough economic environment, we delivered a strong set of results in the first quarter in increasingly competitive markets. We have, in particular, reported impressive cash flow growth, while maintaining our levels of investment to ensure the long-term health of the business.
You can read the full financial results here.
Brits expected to cut back on mobile spend
May 12th
An analysis of consumer spending habits has discovered already hard-up Brits are planning to reduce their communications spending even further in the next six months.
According to Booz & Company, a quarter of the 1,800 questioned have already cut back on their communication and media spending, with a further 26% saying they’d trim the bills further in the next six months.
44% of consumers said they’d consider using VoIP-based phone services such as Skype to cut their calling spend, and 43% said they’d use their landline more.
Meanwhile, in more bad news for mobile operators, handset manufacturers and retailers, 45% said they’d consider delaying the purchase of a new handset, 43% would switch to a cheaper contract if they had a choice, and a quarter claimed they’d even give up using their mobile altogether.
Speaking to Reuters, Michael Peterson – head of BOoz & Company’s UK CMT practice, said: “Operators need to not only review their product and service offerings in the short term, but also think about their long-term strategy, as customers are becoming more savvy about the way they purchase and use services. The operators that can recognize and adapt to these changes will emerge strongest from the recession”.
via UK telcos face price-savvy consumers | Technology | Reuters.
Lebara revenues leap 98%
May 11th
Ethnic-targetted MVNO Lebara has announced a 98% increase in revenues in it’s latest report, with chief executive Yoganathan Ratheesan saying they are “bucking the recession trend”.
The company also claims it’s passed the one million customer mark in the UK, and now has three million customers globally.
According to Mobile News, Lebara chief executive Yoganathan Ratheesan said: “The economic climate is having a major impact on many UK businesses. Lebara Mobile, on the other hand, is bucking the trend – we are a successful, fast-paced company with a business model that delivers real value to our customers and real results to the business.
“Our quality service mixed with transparent and honest pricing offers consumers a simple, easy to use and convenient prepay mobile SIM product. And our healthy financials, strong distribution network and partnerships enable us to be profitable and grow. This is a very exciting time for Lebara.”
Virgin Media post mixed bag of Q1 results
May 5th
Virgin Media’s Q1 2009 results hit the doormat this morning – and amongst all the talk of digital TV and broadband there’s some interesting stats on the performance of their UK mobile division.Revenue in the quarter reached £135.3m, down from £141.1m in the last quarter and £139.5m from Q1 2008. Whilst a lot of this could be put down to the credit crunch, the company claims this decline is mainly due to their cull of pre-pay subscribers – of which they disconnected 157,200 in the first three months of the year. They say that their decision to move away from prepay is due to “higher churn, low tariffs and lower overall profitability”.
Meanwhile, over in post-pay, VM added 62,900 contract customers in Q1 2009 (compared to 70,800 in Q4 2008, and 59,400 in Q1 2008). This is a rise of 63% in the last 12 months, with contract customers now making up 18% of the total subscriber base.
ARPU for the quarter was £10.64, down from £10.75 last quarter but up year on year compared to Q1 2008′s £10.06, mainly due to the aforementioned increase in contract customers.
HTC Q1 revenues drop 3.4%
May 4th
Taiwanese handset manufacturer HTC Corporation have unveiled their results for the first quarter of 2009 – with earnings dropping by 3.4% year-on-year to NT$ 31,590m (around €722.346m).
For the first quarter of 2009, self-assessed total operating income was NT$ 4,845 million (€110.781m), total net income before tax NT$ 5,410 million (€123.7m), total net income after tax NT$ 4,890 million (€111.785m), and self-assessed earnings per share after tax were NT$ 6.56 (€0.149) based on the current 745,394 thousand outstanding shares. First quarter revenue reached 95.7% of guidance, the slight shortfall is mainly attributed to certain new product shipment delayed to April. The company maintains the view of double digits growth this year.
Recent Comments