Belgian MVNO Cut Postpaid Plans by 25%

Belgian MVNO Mobile Vikings has launched new postpaid plans, which the company says are up to 25 percent less expensive than the competition. In addition, the operator has added a quality guarantee, according to which any customers who are unsatisfied after a month will receive their money back. 

The new plans cost €10.00 (US $10.89) per month for 1 GB and €12.00 (US $13.07) for 2 GB, both with 150 minutes and unlimited SMS. For unlimited calls, customers pay €15.00 (US $16.34) per month for 5 GB, €20.00 (US $21.79) for 7 GB or €100.00 (US $108.94) for 25 GB. The unlimited data plan remains at €29.00 (US $31.59) per month. 

The money-back offer applies for all newly activated numbers for 30 days. The company said that it is the first Belgian mobile service provider to offer such a guarantee. 

Customer service always goes a long way. The specific plan features of Mobile Vikings’ new postpaid plans look appealing, and the prices are right—although we cannot make a direct and complete apples-to-apples comparison with what all the competitors are currently offering. However, what is of interest is the idea of the money-back guarantee.

With a prepaid plan, customers have the freedom to pay only for the services consumed, so as soon as they are dissatisfied they can simply stop paying. But with a postpaid plan, there is the risk of spending money for service that one ends up not finding satisfactory, so this money-back guarantee is an innovation that could help lure some new customers. And in the event that a user was unhappy with some aspect of the service, receiving a refund could convince them to stay with the operator and try the service again rather than leaving for a competitor. As a good-will gesture, it could be quite effective.

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Belgian MVNO Launches Data-Only Plan

Belgian MVNO Mobile Vikings has launched a data-only plan consisting of 8 GB for €15.00 (US $16.75) per month. The offer targets customers who no longer use the mobile network for calls and instead rely on IP messaging apps for calls and texts.

Subscribers of the data-only plan are still able to receive calls and texts, but there are no minutes or SMS included. Vikings said that especially young people are relying on Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp to make calls. According to the operator, users under 18 call less than 20 minutes per month on average.

For prepaid users, Mobile Vikings increased the data on its top plan, which costs €25.00 (US $27.92) per month. It now comes with either 8 GB or 4 GB, depending on whether customers choose the data focus or the calls focus. In addition, the company introduced a new option at €20.00 (US $22.33), for 6 GB or 3 GB of data. With 6 GB, customers pay 30 cents a minute for calls, whereas with 3 GB, calls are 15 cents a minute. Both plans include unlimited SMS and unlimited on-net calls.

One of the chief virtues of any mobile plan is relevance to the needs of the marketplace, and in their quest for subscribers, operators are slicing the market thinner and thinner. In particular, MVNOs are pursuing highly targeted approaches to various demographics, and in-depth knowledge of a given population’s usage habits is the key to success in this regard. In this case, Mobile Vikings, as a budget MVNO aimed at the youth market, has taken note of the fact that traditional telephony and SMS texting are very much on the decline among young users.

It is well known to observers of youth culture that members of that demographic are remarkably averse to speaking on the phone, for personal or even work reasons, vastly preferring to text, email, or message each other within social media apps. The latter two are accomplished via mobile data, and even when it comes to texting, youth are favoring OTT text-message services such as WhatsApp over operators’ native SMS or MMS functionalities. Furthermore, on those occasions when they do wish to use voice, young users have IP-based voice services available to them, such as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. While this is most true of those under 18, it is also a characteristic of the under-30 cohort.

Furthermore, young users tend to be very large consumers of mobile data, mainly to access streaming entertainment content and for online gaming. In light of these facts, a data-only plan—and a generous one at that—appears to be a very good idea as part of an operator’s portfolio. While that is especially true for a budget MVNO, we think that major operators may also want to include data-only options in their plan lineups. 

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