The website of Alex Kinch, live from London
Posts tagged o2
The T-Mobile takeover rumour mill continues
Jul 6th
There was an interesting article in The Observer over the weekend, featuring an interview with Matthew Key, Chief Executive of O2.
Is he worried about being left out of the bidding war for Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile UK business unit? Quite probably, but he plays it quite cool. “We are watching developments closely, but if you’re asking me whether it’s consuming my time day and night, the answer is no,” he says. I’m entirely relaxed about the situation – no one is running around here like headless chickens.”
Meanwhile the Sunday Times reports Vodafone is talking to Deutsche Telekom about swapping it’s Turkish operation (formerly Telsim) for T-Mobile UK. To put that possibility into figures, Vodafone paid £2.6m for the Telsim operation in 2006, but has since written it down due to competition from Turkcell – the dominate player in the market. It could raise £1.5m of the projected £3m worth of T-Mobile UK by disposing of the Turkish unit.
Finally, the Daily Mail adds its usual dose of doom, gloom and ‘they’re all out to get us’ sensationalism with a report that says ‘Telecoms regulator Ofcom is warning potential bidders for T-Mobile that any takeover deal will face the toughest scrutiny, amid fears that it would lead to a sharp increase in prices for consumers.’
Happy days indeed, with sources close to Deutsche Telekom still claiming there’s ‘no rush’ to offload T-Mobile UK. With new MD Richard Moat (formerly of Orange) less than two months in the job there still may be time to avoid being swallowed up by a rival player. Speaking of Orange, they’re still in the frame for a deal with T-Mobile. Or not, if you believe the claims a possible deal was rejected a few weeks ago.
Research: 70% of small businesses use smart phones
Jun 15th
Seven out of ten UK small businesss are now using converged mobile devices, such as iPhones and BlackBerry smartphones, according to research conducted by O2.
The figures, based on recent sales figures from the carrier, represents an increase of nearly 100% over the last 12 months, with many small businesses now combining their personal and business handsets into one.
On Wednesday, the first day of the London tube strike, O2 reported a surge of 13% in data traffic in the Greater London area, as customers took advantage of remotely accessing data, even when they were not able to make it into the office.
Feedback from small business customers has revealed the ability to access social networking sites through applications such as TwitterBerry is a key factor behind the increasing popularity of converged devices. Nearly half (48 per cent) revealed they access sites up to four times a day, with promoting their business and recruiting new staff among the most popular reasons for use. Over a quarter (28 per cent) revealed that the ability to keep in touch with other small businesses in real time had boosted business confidence
Newly developed business specific applications on the iPhone were also cited as adding to the appeal of the device as a business as well as personal tool. New applications such as LogMeIn were identified as popular applications for increasing efficiencies, providing users with the ability to remotely view their computer desktop over the 3G network or Wi-Fi connection, meaning the user can access files even if out the office.
Despite small businesses cost-cutting across many areas of their business, nearly half (49 per cent) of small business are continuing their level of investment in technology, in an attempt to benefit in the long term. Converged devices were identified as the most popular technology products that businesses were investing in, largely driven by the increase in staff efficiency and the need to cut costs by reducing fixed office space.
One in ten customers revealed they had actually increased the amount they had spent on these devices since the onset of the recession.
Simon Devonshire, Head of Small Business Marketing, O2 commented: “We’ve seen a real shift in attitude amongst small businesses around the criteria they are looking for from their mobile devices, specifically in the blurring of lines between a handset for business and a separate one for personal use. More small businesses are opting for one combined converged device which offers them not only great functionality but also flexibility and access to both their business and personal lives. The use of social networking as a means of keeping and growing business is also a trend that we predict will continue to grow. By enabling their staff to be able to work even when they are out of the office, business owners are reaping the benefits of a more productive and in-touch workforce.’
O2 announce UK iPhone prices and tariffs
Jun 9th
O2 will be bringing the new iPhone S to the UK from 19th June – and this morning they’ve unveiled a range of packages and prices for the new range.
Following Apple’s announcement yesterday of the new handset at their Wordwide Developers Conference (WWDC), we were told the US prices (without contract) would be $199 for the 16GB version and $299. The existing iPhone 3G would drop to $99.
Pay as you go customers on O2 will be able to grab the original iPhone 3G for £342.50, the 16GB iPhone S for £440.40 and the 32GB model for the eye-watering £538.30.
If you’re prepared to stump up £73.41 a month on an 18-month contract or £44.05 a month on a 24-month contract you can get the iPhone S 16GB for nowt, but to get the 32GB model free you’ll be tied into two years at £73.41.
Now the rub. If you’re an existing customer – perhaps you bought your iPhone 3G last year when it first came out – you won’t just be able to upgrade device. O2 will be holding their customers to the full contract length – so if you want to upgrade to the S you’ll either have to pay to get out of your existing contract or take out a new one in parallel. Alternatively you could opt to pay for an S on Pay-as-you-go – but that’s possibly a little expensive.
Full contract details below.
O2 and Virgin customers are most satisfied – survey
Jun 4th
O2 ranks highest in customer satisfaction with pre-pay mobile phone service, and Virgin Mobile ranks highest among pay-monthly mobile phone customers, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2009 UK Mobile Phone Customer Satisfaction Study(SM) released today.
Now in its 12th year, the study measures customer satisfaction with pre-pay and pay-monthly plans among the leading UK mobile network service providers. Overall satisfaction with pre-pay providers is based on performance across six factors: call quality/coverage; offerings and promotions; cost of the service; billing or topping up (replenishing or paying for minutes and texts in a pay-as-you-go plan); customer service; and handset.
Among pre-pay providers, O2 ranks highest with a score of 734 on a 1,000-point scale and performs particularly well in four of six factors: call quality/coverage; billing/topping up; handset; and offerings and promotions. Tesco Mobile follows O2 in the ranking with a score of 710, while Virgin Mobile ranks third with 691.
Virgin Mobile ranks highest in the pay-monthly segment for a third consecutive year, receiving a score of 718 and performing particularly well in five of six factors: cost of the service; offerings and promotions; billing; customer service; and handset. Following Virgin Mobile in the segment rankings are O2 (698) and Orange (673).
The study also finds that several of the high-ranking providers perform particularly well in offering incentives and rewards. For instance, 75 percent of all O2 pre-pay and pay-monthly customers report receiving rewards, compared with an industry average of 60 percent. Among pre-pay customers who receive rewards, satisfaction is much higher (712 points on average) than among those who do not receive rewards (653 points on average). Additionally, among pay-monthly customers who receive rewards, the average satisfaction score is 702, compared with 618 among those who receive no rewards.
“As the mobile phone market matures and experiences increasing convergence with other communications technology, customer expectations of their mobile phone provider are growing, and these customers expect more services and features from their providers,” said Stuart Crawford-Browne, senior manager of service industries at J.D. Power and Associates. “Customers appreciate simplicity, rewards for spending and the benefits of bundled services. Providers that take care of their customers with ease of use, good value and loyalty incentives are more likely to prevail in this difficult economic environment – not only maintaining their core business but likely increasing business through loyalty and recommendations as well.”
The 2009 UK Mobile Phone Customer Satisfaction Study is based on responses from 3,325 pre-pay and pay-monthly mobile phone customers throughout the UK. The study was fielded in March and April 2009.
Customer Satisfaction Index Scores
(Based on a 1,000-point scale)
Pre-Pay Segment
Mobile Provider Overall Satisfaction Score
--------------- --------------------------
O2 734
Tesco Mobile 710
Virgin Mobile 691
Industry Average 686
T-Mobile 674
Vodafone 669
Orange 665
3 663
Pay Monthly Segment
Mobile Provider Overall Satisfaction Score
--------------- --------------------------
Virgin Mobile 718
O2 698
Industry Average 675
Orange 673
T-Mobile 670
Vodafone 670
3 635
Palm Pre heading to the UK with O2
May 24th
O2 – the UK’s largest mobile operator – is about to announce an exclusive deal to distribute the Palm Pre in the UK, according to reports.
According to The Guardian, the operator has seen off fierce competition from Vodafone and Orange, and will be launching the handset in time for the Christmas period.
Palm have already inked an exclusive deal in the US with Sprint for a June 6th launch – however stocks are understood to be very limited. The operator plans to offer the ‘iPhone killer’ for $199.99 (around £129) on a two-year contract.
When questioned by the Guardian O2 refused to comment.
via O2 follows iPhone success with deal for next must-have gadget | Business | guardian.co.uk.
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.
Ofcom order UK operators to cut termination rates
Apr 3rd
It’s not unusual for government departments to quietly shuffle out press releases bearing bad news when something else major is going on – but in this case Ofcom decided to tell the world some good news, but everyone was more interested in the G20.
Anyway, Ofcom have decided that from Friday mobile termination rates – i.e. the rates networks charge for connecting calls on their networks – are going to be cut by up to 21%.
The new rates, set for the next two years, are as follows: Vodafone and O2 – 4.71p/minute (down 8.4%), T-Mobile and Orange – 4.84p/minute (down 11.1%), and 3 – aka H3G – a rather large drop of 20.9% to 5.83p/minute.
Whether these cuts will be passed on to the end user – either by tweaks to minute bundles or actual per minute charge reductions – remains to be seen.
via UK watchdog orders mobile termination rate cuts | Reuters.
T-Mobile to block iPhone Skype
Apr 2nd
The Skype for iPhone controversy rolls on – following the news that due to a patent issue Canadians won’t be getting the app, news is coming in from Germany that T-Mobile will be using everything within their power to block users from running Skype – even if it doesn’t touch their network.
Speaking to German website ‘The Local’, T-Mobile’s Alexander von Schmettow said that not only does it go against the terms of its contract with consumers, but that the “high level of traffic would hinder our network performance,” and “if the Skype program didn’t work properly, customers would make us responsible for it.” – and presumably the other 31,487 apps too?
The Financial Times Deutschland also reported on this story, claiming T-Mobile felt Skype posed a threat to their traditional voice revenue – a notion von Schmettow denied, countering with the claim that they’d been blocking VoIP for the past two years anyway so what was new? Well ok not exactly said in that sarcastic tone of voice, but you get my drift.
Meanwhile, back in Blighty, exclusive iPhone UK carrier O2 has said they won’t try and stop customers from installing Skype on their handsets. Which is nice.
via mocoNews – German Carrier T-Mobile Blocking Skype – washingtonpost.com.
Telefonica bring Yahoo! to 100m mobiles
Oct 2nd
Telefonica – parent company of UK mobile network O2 – yesterday announced a deal to bring Yahoo! oneSearch, Yahoo! Mail and photo sharing community Flickr to more than 100 million mobile customers in 15 countries.
Yahoo! oneSearch is specifically designed for mobile devices, delivering results directly in the first screen and thereby removing the need for consumers to navigate through a sea of links to PC Web sites to find the information they want. Yahoo! oneSearch gives consumers access to news, financial information, weather conditions, Flickr photos, Web images, as well as Web and Mobile Web sites.
Together, Telefonica and Yahoo! are enhancing the search experience for consumers on mobile phones, while providing both companies with new revenue streams through mobile advertising.
Julio Linares, Telefonica’s general manager for Coordination Business Development and Synergies, said, “Partners are essential to our mobile strategy and these key relationships, like the one we are announcing today with Yahoo!, will continue to evolve and deliver state of the art Internet experiences to our customers at home or on the go.”
“Yahoo!’s new partnership with Telefonica furthers our leadership in mobile and demonstrates our commitment to working with partners to enhance the Internet experience for customers on their mobile phone,” said Marco Boerries, executive vice president of Yahoo!’s Connected Life Division. “Together we can grow usage of mobile Internet services and create new revenue streams through mobile advertising.”
Telefonica customers will also enjoy the benefit of direct access to Flickr, one of the world’s leading online photo sharing communities. The inclusion of Flickr in Telefonica’s mobile services will allow customers to easily view and share their photos, view their friends’ pictures, view and create comments on photos and browse or search more than one billion images posted by the Flickr service, all from the mobile phones.
Additionally, Yahoo! Mail will be seamlessly integrated into Telefonica’s Mail Express service, providing Yahoo! Mail users with the ability to receive their Yahoo! Mail messages directly on their mobile phone via MMS messaging, enabling customers on the Telefonica network in Spain and Latin America to stay connected to their community even when they are away from their PC.
O2 unlimited data? Oh dear..
Sep 28th
Link: Consumer Data Bolt On – Tariffs – Mobiles & Tariffs – O2
SMS Text News reader Barry got in touch just now to highlight O2′s rather stupid ‘unlimited’ data offering. They’re trying to hard to match similar options from T-Mobile and Three, but manage to completely screw it up by throwing in loads of conditions and exclusions.
Here’s what they have to say:
O2 Web Bolt On gives you unlimited* browsing through your phone for £7.50 per month
So far so good. What do you reckon their definition of ‘unlimited’ is? 1Gb? 2Gb? Maybe even three? Nope – not a hope in hell. Buried in small print on the page, they say:
A fair use of 200MB per month applies to the O2 Web Bolt On. A fair use of 3GB per month applies to O2 Web Max.
Eh? Let’s compare this with T-Mobile. Web’n'Walk on your phone is £7.50 a month, and gives you 1Gb of data. You can even do pay-as-you-go Web’n'Walk for a quid a day.
However, there is one ray of sunshine in this whole mess. They give you a free trial of data services to all customers before you decide to commit. How much do you reckon you’ll get for free? If you’ve got a tariff with less than 600 minutes, it’s a very generous 100KB. Wow, what a lot. It gets even better if you’ve got over 600 minutes a month on your tariff – you get a whole 512KB to play with.
The bottom line? Utter crap. Sorry and all that, but it is. If these are the basis for the T&Cs for EDGE data on the iPhone, then I’m wondering whether Apple realise they’ve really shot themselves in the foot.
Update: SMS Text News reader Paul got in touch, pointing out that the T&Cs for the Web Bolt On are even more strict than first thought. Witness these points, from the O2 terms and conditions page
The O2 Web Bolt On can only be added to a consumer voice tariff and allows you unlimited use of O2′s 3G/GPRS Mobile Data Services for Permitted Uses only.
Permitted Uses of theO2 Web Bolt On are uses of your SIM Card within a handheld mobile device for the purposes of Internet Browsing and email (excluding BlackBerry® email) only.
Any other use of the O2 Web Bolt On will not be a Permitted Use, including but not limited to:
1. Use with Data Cards or Modems;
2. Instant Messaging,
3. IP Telephony,
4. Point 2 Point file sharing and file transfer,
5. VoIP (e.g. Skype™),
6. Video and TV streaming,
7. Slingboxes; and
8. Use in conjunction with routers.O2 reserves the right to suggest an upgrade to O2 Web Max or to withdraw the O2 Web Bolt On from you at any time if O2 reasonably suspects you of using the service for uses other than the Permitted Uses or abuse of the service, including using an atypical volume of data as compared to normal users of the O2 Web Bolt On, which will normally be less than 200MB of usage within a one month bill cycle (termed ‘fair usage”).
O2 will contact you before the O2 Web Bolt On is withdrawn or upgraded. If for any reason contact is not possible then O2 may temporarily bar the service until contact can be made. In the event that O2 withdraws the O2 Web Bolt On, O2 is not obliged to offer any alternative replacement service. If O2 determines that you may upgrade to an alternative service which is more appropriate for your requirements then, if you consent, O2 will transfer you to the alternative service as soon as is reasonably practicable after you advise O2 that this is what you wish to do.
So basically you can’t use it for IM, VoIP, streaming, file transfer, or anything really useful. Do O2 realise the internet has changed a lot since the early 90′s?
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