Iceland, which, due to its low population, already has a highly penetrated mobile market (77% at end-2000), is about to experience a huge influx of new operators. Islandissimi launched in March 2001 and another five to six licences are being awarded. Both operators–TAL and Iceland Telecom–have prepaid offerings. However, prepaid is still small, just 22% [...]
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
The Finnish market continues to look frostily on prepaid services. Despite being the world’s most penetrated market at 78% in December 2000, this has been achieved mainly through contracts. Finns do not have very much of a credit culture. Credit card penetration is quite low and the financial control offered by prepaid services has proved [...]
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Prepaid is not that big in the Swiss market with 1.6 million users, 34% of the total market, at the end of 2000. Although Swisscom is the market leader in terms of prepaid users, DiAx in fact had a higher proportion of its customer base on prepaid–60% to Swisscom’s 32%–at end-2000. Stephan Mignot, Swisscom’s Mobile [...]
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Like its neighbour Portugal, Spain has always been a strong prepaid market. So much so, that the third operator, Amena, launched with a prepaid service first. By end-2000, 77% of Amena’s customers used prepaid services and prepaid accounted for 65% of the total Spanish mobile market. In early 1999, Amena introduced an innovative prepaid pack [...]
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Prepaid has become a significant force in western Europe, over 60% of the total base is using prepaid services now. In 1999 and 2000, over 80% of net additions were for prepaid services and, as penetration in the region heads towards an astonishing 70%, there are signs that operators are now beginning to rethink their [...]
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Prepaid services first put in an appearance in the late 1990s. The world’s cellular market has had a period of strong and sustained growth, with annual rates of around 50% per year since 1998. Over one in ten people across the world are now mobile communications users. A strong factor in this growth has been [...]
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Between 1995 and 1999 a simple operator-customer relationship existed. But now the development of the Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO) and strategic partners such as banks and infomediaries have the potential to change both the value chain and the relationship with the customer. The heavy debts incurred by many European operators as a result of the 3G license bids will induce them to make many more cost/profit sharing partnerships as a means of reducing risk and operational costs. One2One in the UK lost market share to Orange and Vodafone. But it has an additional 670,000 customers on its network as a result of a deal with Virgin Mobile (MVNO). MVNOs with strong brands, such as Virgin, can reach segments that existing operators cannot. MVNOs could launch prepaid services for particular social, economic, gender and ethnic groups. Operators need to take a holistic approach to prepaid services. No single department can tackle the challenges that are described in this report. Below is a list of all the departments that are required for marketing and managing prepaid mobile services:
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Operators are now extremely concerned about their growing dependence on current prepaid services and some are taking steps to reduce their prepaid base. In the UK, all four operators have adjusted their policy to place greater emphasis on postpaid customers. They have increased the price of their prepaid packages to a minimum of 69.99 (from 39.99) and at the same time cut the level of bonuses paid to retailers for each new prepaid subscriber. Operators in Denmark have also made a switch away from prepaid and have seen significant improvements in profitability as a result. But operators cannot turn back the clock. Prepaid is now entrenched in most markets and it would be unrealistic to aim for the Finnish model (where prepaid is virtually non-existent).
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
The first prepaid mobile services were launched in Europe and the US in the second half of 1995. In 1996, there was a gradual roll out of many more prepaid services in other markets such as South Africa and Mexico...
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
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