Ben
9th July 2005, 03:40 AM
Ok, 08/07/05's tariff tracker:
1 (3) 3 Talk & Text 600 Top 3 combo.
2 (1) O2 200 Always popular.
3 (11) Vodafone Anytime 200 Vodas mid-range bundle.
4 (-) 02 MMS 02 250 Carphone MMS bundle.
5 (2) O2 100 Light user tariff.
6 (-) Virgin 200 (18m) Carphone stormer.
7 (5) 3 Talk & Text 900 (18m) 3s heavy minute package.
8 (11) T-Mobile Relax 200 Take it easy.
8 (-) 3 Talk & Text 600 (18m) More popular as 12-months.
10 (-) Vodafone Anytime 275 (18m) New 18-month version.
11 (9) 02 250 Aced by O2 200.
11 (5) Orange 200 OVP for popular O2 deal.
13 (-) T-Mobile Everyone 200 Everyone likes free minutes.
14 (-) O2 Leisure Time Plus Great for off-peak minutes.
14 (-) 3 Video Talk & Text 700 Loads of minutes and bundled video calls.
14 (-) O2 MMS O2 200 Carphone MMS bundle.
17 (-) O2 Best for Business Great business tariff.
18 (-) 3 Talk & Text 900 More popular as 18 months.
19 (-) O2 Best for Business 10000 For heavy business users.
19 (-) T-Mobile U Fix 100 Contract/prepay hybrid.
Quite a lot of Three and O2 in there, even T-Mobile! What I have learnt to recognise is that these charts seem to be more a case of how much each network is spending on acquisitions rather than customer choice (am I really so stupid to believe that dealers will push the options offering the best commissions at the time?).
Mobile also have an article about how customers are often providing a letterhead to show they're a 'business' customer in order to have the business tariffs (yes... not very exciting) just to get the UK based support. See, we're not stupid us consumers. Of course, dealers also cash in on the extra commissions.
So why is the 'new customer' market so competitive given that most people already have a mobile? In Vodafone's 3G launch press conference, Arun Sarin reckoned Vodafone's 3G base would be made up of approximately 50% new customers. But, in the real world, it's likely that as quickly as Vodafone adds customers they'll lose existing customers to other networks. And so it continues...
I, like many, initially thought when Three came to market that they'd shake up pricing and generally do good in the marketplace. All that seems to have happened is an intensified 'new customers only' mentality. Innovations like Wildfire have died a death with a focus intensifying on voice minutes and text messages. MMS remain expensive, video calling is dramatically overpriced, and Three's entry has done nothing to alleviate the stifling data rates being charged compared to US-style all-you-can-eat $20-a-month deals. Outsourced call centres have become 'acceptable' in the mobile industry, billing has gone backwards in terms of 30 day voucher expiry on pre-pay and many consumers believe 3G is the name of a mobile network. 18 month+ contracts are now being pushed, something I'd have never anticipated on this scale 3 years ago.
No, I'm not simply blaming Three for all of those things, just observing how the market has changed. Would we have benefited from a more stable four-player marketplace relying on MVNO's to lap up cheap excess minute capacity? Perhaps we could have benefited more as consumers if the fifth mobile operator in the UK had been regulated to ensure, a bit like when Channel 4 launched, that they were using technology to address a niche in the market rather than blatently offering more of the same?
In summary, the tariffs on sale are boring. Dull, meaningless tariffs. Even now, with a new entrant taking a few million subscribers in a relatively short period of time, no-one has anything groundbreaking to do or say and all we've ended up with is loads (http://threestore.three.co.uk/plans.aspx) of confusing (http://www.vodafone.co.uk/cgi-bin/COUK/portal/ep/browse.do?channelPath=%2FVodafone+Portal%2FGet+mor e+from+your+mobile%2FCoverage+and+price+plans) plans (http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/Dispatcher?menuid=ctl_change_state&name=searchResults&value=off&nextpageid=phones_opp)!
1 (3) 3 Talk & Text 600 Top 3 combo.
2 (1) O2 200 Always popular.
3 (11) Vodafone Anytime 200 Vodas mid-range bundle.
4 (-) 02 MMS 02 250 Carphone MMS bundle.
5 (2) O2 100 Light user tariff.
6 (-) Virgin 200 (18m) Carphone stormer.
7 (5) 3 Talk & Text 900 (18m) 3s heavy minute package.
8 (11) T-Mobile Relax 200 Take it easy.
8 (-) 3 Talk & Text 600 (18m) More popular as 12-months.
10 (-) Vodafone Anytime 275 (18m) New 18-month version.
11 (9) 02 250 Aced by O2 200.
11 (5) Orange 200 OVP for popular O2 deal.
13 (-) T-Mobile Everyone 200 Everyone likes free minutes.
14 (-) O2 Leisure Time Plus Great for off-peak minutes.
14 (-) 3 Video Talk & Text 700 Loads of minutes and bundled video calls.
14 (-) O2 MMS O2 200 Carphone MMS bundle.
17 (-) O2 Best for Business Great business tariff.
18 (-) 3 Talk & Text 900 More popular as 18 months.
19 (-) O2 Best for Business 10000 For heavy business users.
19 (-) T-Mobile U Fix 100 Contract/prepay hybrid.
Quite a lot of Three and O2 in there, even T-Mobile! What I have learnt to recognise is that these charts seem to be more a case of how much each network is spending on acquisitions rather than customer choice (am I really so stupid to believe that dealers will push the options offering the best commissions at the time?).
Mobile also have an article about how customers are often providing a letterhead to show they're a 'business' customer in order to have the business tariffs (yes... not very exciting) just to get the UK based support. See, we're not stupid us consumers. Of course, dealers also cash in on the extra commissions.
So why is the 'new customer' market so competitive given that most people already have a mobile? In Vodafone's 3G launch press conference, Arun Sarin reckoned Vodafone's 3G base would be made up of approximately 50% new customers. But, in the real world, it's likely that as quickly as Vodafone adds customers they'll lose existing customers to other networks. And so it continues...
I, like many, initially thought when Three came to market that they'd shake up pricing and generally do good in the marketplace. All that seems to have happened is an intensified 'new customers only' mentality. Innovations like Wildfire have died a death with a focus intensifying on voice minutes and text messages. MMS remain expensive, video calling is dramatically overpriced, and Three's entry has done nothing to alleviate the stifling data rates being charged compared to US-style all-you-can-eat $20-a-month deals. Outsourced call centres have become 'acceptable' in the mobile industry, billing has gone backwards in terms of 30 day voucher expiry on pre-pay and many consumers believe 3G is the name of a mobile network. 18 month+ contracts are now being pushed, something I'd have never anticipated on this scale 3 years ago.
No, I'm not simply blaming Three for all of those things, just observing how the market has changed. Would we have benefited from a more stable four-player marketplace relying on MVNO's to lap up cheap excess minute capacity? Perhaps we could have benefited more as consumers if the fifth mobile operator in the UK had been regulated to ensure, a bit like when Channel 4 launched, that they were using technology to address a niche in the market rather than blatently offering more of the same?
In summary, the tariffs on sale are boring. Dull, meaningless tariffs. Even now, with a new entrant taking a few million subscribers in a relatively short period of time, no-one has anything groundbreaking to do or say and all we've ended up with is loads (http://threestore.three.co.uk/plans.aspx) of confusing (http://www.vodafone.co.uk/cgi-bin/COUK/portal/ep/browse.do?channelPath=%2FVodafone+Portal%2FGet+mor e+from+your+mobile%2FCoverage+and+price+plans) plans (http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/Dispatcher?menuid=ctl_change_state&name=searchResults&value=off&nextpageid=phones_opp)!