3GScottishUser
1st February 2007, 06:15 PM
923,000 net new customers added: contract customers up 25% to 3.7 million
T-Mobile UK has announced it has completed a year of strong growth with 246,000 net new customers over the Christmas quarter, bringing total customer growth for the full year to 923,000 net new customers, of which almost 80% (733,000) were net new contract customers.
The total T-Mobile UK customer base is now 16.9 million, including Virgin Mobile customers, all of whom use T-Mobile’s network and are classified as pre-pay customers. Over the year, T-Mobile’s contract customer base grew 25% to 3.7 million.
The figures are accompanied by a substantial strengthening of T-Mobile’s brand in the UK and a very marked increase in the number of UK mobile users who recommend T-Mobile to others. T-Mobile uses independent research among all UK mobile customers to measure which network they would recommend to others.
Commenting, Jim Hyde, Managing Director of T-Mobile UK, said: “What struck me about the UK mobile market when I arrived a year ago was the tariff confusion and high levels of churn. Customers didn’t understand the range of tariffs and services on offer; but they did have a clear idea they could get a better deal by switching between operators. In a market with very high mobile penetration, most of the so-called growth was therefore churn.
“You can’t change things over-night; but I think we’ve made a good start. By identifying and meeting customers’ needs with simple, high value products and services, and by paying as much attention to existing as to new customers, we’ve significantly reduced churn rates, grown our customer base and substantially improved its quality.
“T-Mobile is now in a leading position in the UK mobile market and it’s a position we intend to build upon this year.”
During the year, among other initiatives, T-Mobile has simplified its tariff range; introduced innovative services, including Flext, which has changed the contract market and now has over 1.3 million customers; focused on customer service improvement, including a new bill format customers can understand and the launch of ‘Street Check’ which measures network performance where each customer lives, works and spends their leisure time. T-Mobile has continued to grow its store network from 140 to 247, focussing on a new format and improved overall customer experience, which has resulted in T-Mobile UK being ranked number one in retail customer satisfaction amongst European mobile operators. Additionally T-Mobile has continued to invest heavily in overall network improvement, highlighted by the launch of high speed mobile broadband across all its 3G network.
The relatively low level of net pre-pay customer growth is said to be deliberate as T-Mobile has sought to focus on high value, low churn pre-pay business.
The figures:
• Total customer base now 16.9 million
• 733,000 net contract adds. Contract base now 3.7 million
• 191,000 net pre-pay adds. Pre-pay base now 13.2 million
• 246,000 net new customers in Christmas quarter
• 120,000 net new contract customers
• 126,000 net new pre-pay customers
http://www.mobileeurope.co.uk/news_wire/news_wire_story.ehtml?o=2792
T-Mobile UK has announced it has completed a year of strong growth with 246,000 net new customers over the Christmas quarter, bringing total customer growth for the full year to 923,000 net new customers, of which almost 80% (733,000) were net new contract customers.
The total T-Mobile UK customer base is now 16.9 million, including Virgin Mobile customers, all of whom use T-Mobile’s network and are classified as pre-pay customers. Over the year, T-Mobile’s contract customer base grew 25% to 3.7 million.
The figures are accompanied by a substantial strengthening of T-Mobile’s brand in the UK and a very marked increase in the number of UK mobile users who recommend T-Mobile to others. T-Mobile uses independent research among all UK mobile customers to measure which network they would recommend to others.
Commenting, Jim Hyde, Managing Director of T-Mobile UK, said: “What struck me about the UK mobile market when I arrived a year ago was the tariff confusion and high levels of churn. Customers didn’t understand the range of tariffs and services on offer; but they did have a clear idea they could get a better deal by switching between operators. In a market with very high mobile penetration, most of the so-called growth was therefore churn.
“You can’t change things over-night; but I think we’ve made a good start. By identifying and meeting customers’ needs with simple, high value products and services, and by paying as much attention to existing as to new customers, we’ve significantly reduced churn rates, grown our customer base and substantially improved its quality.
“T-Mobile is now in a leading position in the UK mobile market and it’s a position we intend to build upon this year.”
During the year, among other initiatives, T-Mobile has simplified its tariff range; introduced innovative services, including Flext, which has changed the contract market and now has over 1.3 million customers; focused on customer service improvement, including a new bill format customers can understand and the launch of ‘Street Check’ which measures network performance where each customer lives, works and spends their leisure time. T-Mobile has continued to grow its store network from 140 to 247, focussing on a new format and improved overall customer experience, which has resulted in T-Mobile UK being ranked number one in retail customer satisfaction amongst European mobile operators. Additionally T-Mobile has continued to invest heavily in overall network improvement, highlighted by the launch of high speed mobile broadband across all its 3G network.
The relatively low level of net pre-pay customer growth is said to be deliberate as T-Mobile has sought to focus on high value, low churn pre-pay business.
The figures:
• Total customer base now 16.9 million
• 733,000 net contract adds. Contract base now 3.7 million
• 191,000 net pre-pay adds. Pre-pay base now 13.2 million
• 246,000 net new customers in Christmas quarter
• 120,000 net new contract customers
• 126,000 net new pre-pay customers
http://www.mobileeurope.co.uk/news_wire/news_wire_story.ehtml?o=2792