Belgian MVNO for First Responders Adds Unlimited Calls, New Data Plans

Blue Light Mobile, the Belgian mobile service for first responders and security services, announced new price plans beginning 1 June. These include unlimited calls to Belgian fixed and mobile lines and improved data bundles. 

Plans start at €6.00 (US $6.69) per month for unlimited calls and 8 GB of data, excluding VAT, and go up to €122.00 (US $136.10) for unlimited calls and 120 GB. Additional data is charged at a rate of €0.15 (US $0.17) per MB, and each SIM has an activation fee of €10.00 (US $11.16). Voice-only costs €2.00 (US $2.23) per month, while data-only packs start at €2.00 for 400 MB. SMS is included in all plans. 

Blue Light Mobile users receive priority on the Proximus network, as well as automatic fallback to the Orange or Base networks. Roaming packages are also available for subscribers. 

Blue Light Mobile, launched in 2014, is an unusual MVNO that is accessible only to emergency and security personnel in Belgium. It is provided by ASTRID, an operator of radio, paging and dispatching networks that exclusively serves the first responder community in that country. Originally on 3G, Blue Light now operates on 4G/LTE networks. One feature that is particularly characteristic of this MVNO is that its SIMs operate on three networks, Proximus, Orange and Base, with Proximus prioritized.

With its new plans, Blue Light Mobile is offering Belgian emergency workers a broad range of options for voice, data and SMS at various price points. In their diversity and flexibility, the offerings resemble a suite of consumer plans, indicating that with the ubiquity of mobile devices and the overlap between work and personal life, emergency workers’ needs are merely a heightened version of the needs of ordinary users. Furthermore, the BYOD revolution clearly extends to the first-responder community, so that these workers are using their devices and Blue Light Mobile SIMs for purposes that go beyond simply getting communications about emergencies.

From 8 MB to 120 MB, every level of user should find something in these plans to fit his or her needs. The voice-only and data-only options add to the flexibility of Blue Light’s offerings. 

Tarifica is a global SaaS company and a market leader in the real-time collection, analysis and delivery of telecom plan and pricing data worldwide. Through a mix of AI, modeling and market expertise, Tarifica tracks hundreds of thousands of plan and pricing data points daily. No other company tracks more. Tarifica's mission is to continuously convert data into the dynamic intelligence that fuels opportunities for its clients, the world's leading operators, regulators and consultants. 

Learn more about Tarifica at www.tarifica.com.

Orange Egypt Renews Contract With Coca-Cola

Orange Egypt has renewed its contract with Coca-Cola Egypt and will provide mobile services and smart applications through Orange's network and tracking services for the Coca-Cola fleet, in addition to joint advertising. Yasser Shaker, CEO of Orange Egypt, said that the operator will help Coca-Cola become more effective and efficient in its administrative system. It will also supply status tracking to follow products accurately in markets. 

Orange Egypt will provide Orange Cash services as an electronic collection method for merchants dealing with the Coca-Cola Company, which helps to reduce cash transactions and enhance the company’s cash liquidity.

Orange also provides Coca-Cola Egypt with free Wi-Fi at the company’s branches throughout the country, so that Coca-Cola’s customers and employees can stay connected. Orange will also deliver a bulk SMS service for marketing.

A big enough business client can benefit a mobile operator out of proportion to the actual number of lines or devices held by that subscriber, and the special relationship between Orange Egypt and Coca-Cola Egypt is an excellent example of how.

By renewing its contract with Coca-Cola, Orange is showing how this relationship has been working well and how it can grow in the future. The cooperation between two large companies, each a leader in its field, should be an example to operators in other markets as to how they can leverage their capabilities. In the case of Egypt, Orange has embraced a strategy of supporting the national government in matters relating to digital growth and financial inclusion, and the cooperation with Coca-Cola is being conceived by Orange specifically along those lines.

What makes the partnership between the operator and the soft-drink giant most interesting is that in addition to data services and other connectivity, Orange is providing non-traditional services—mobile money to reduce cash transactions, IoT for fleet and supply tracking, and mobile advertising services on its platforms. The latter will also enable Orange to benefit from co-branding. 

Tarifica is the global leader in monitoring and analyzing telecom pricing. Covering hundreds of operators in every region of the globe, Tarifica’s databases of mobile and fixed line data and voice tariffs are among the largest and most in-depth in the world. Tarifica is also a leading publisher of benchmark and other pricing reports, and its analysts are recognized authorities in the telecom industry, relied upon by operators and businesses worldwide for pricing insight and guidance.  

To learn more about Tarifica, please visit www.tarifica.com 

Orange Business Services and Genesis Analytics Bringing Digital Banking to Middle East–Africa

France-based Orange Business Services and South Africa-based Genesis Analytics have signed a partnership with the goal of serving the financial services industry in Africa and the Middle East. The partnership focuses on providing strategy consultancy to prepare financial institutions to launch new digital-ecosystem banking services.

The partnership combines Genesis Analytics’ African and Middle Eastern expertise in regulatory economics, strategy and market research with Orange’s expertise in digital, cloud and network services. The two companies have already delivered digital banking strategy consultancy engagements for major banks in Africa and for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has a focus on financial inclusion.

Considering the growing importance of mobile money and other digital financial services, it is extremely good policy for mobile operators to be proactive in extending and deepening their participation in these sectors. For a very large multinational telecom company such as Orange, the possibilities are virtually unlimited, with the right investment of funds, expertise and partnerships.

Having its own business-services arm is a firm base on which to build. Now Orange has wisely chosen a regional partner to work with, and the region in which this partner has relevant experience is vast indeed. Middle East–Africa (MEA) is a mixture of developed and developing economies, all of which are engaged in uptake of mobile financial services, and Sub-Saharan Africa in particular has shown itself to be a fertile field of operations for the proliferation of mobile money, due to the relative lack of more traditional financial services.

The primary joint task of Orange and Genesis will be to advise financial institutions on the strategies necessary to creating digital banking systems. This will certainly benefit Orange—in terms of consulting fees at present, as well as in the future when the company’s mobile network operations in multiple countries in the region derive revenue directly from financial services that were set up through the partnership. In addition, Orange and Genesis will help bolster the financial services industry in the MEA region in a more general way, by helping them cope with the disruption that is besetting the sector precisely due to the very rise in mobile banking that MNOs have spearheaded. 

Tarifica’s products and services are powered by large-scale data from the global telecom industry and a deep level of expertise gained from our singular focus. We leverage these core attributes to help our clients understand their markets and answer their most challenging questions. Our team of analysts, software engineers and data scientists deliver real-time dynamic solutions for the telecom industry. Our software and state of the art data extraction techniques enable our clients to make smart decisions in real-time based on insightful, actionable data. We are the telecom plan & pricing experts.

To learn more about Tarifica, please visit www.tarifica.com 

Orange and Deutsche Telekom to Introduce Smart Speaker

France-based operator Orange and Germany-based Deutsche Telekom will introduce their own jointly developed smart speaker in December, according to Orange CEO Stephane Richard. Speaking at the GSMA’s Mobile360 event in Brussels, Richard said the companies aim to offer a European alternative to a market currently dominated by the U.S.-based technology and retail giants Google and Amazon.
 
DT previewed the smart speaker earlier in September at the IFA electronics trade show in Berlin. Originally the device was slated to launch in the summer, and then the date was pushed back to September; the new date of December suggests that the partners intend for the speaker to enter the market in time for the Christmas holiday season.
 
Richard said he and DT CEO Tim Hoettges will present the speaker with a voice-controlled digital assistant. The companies are focusing on language recognition, in order to make the device suitable for multiple markets within Europe. The speaker will be called Magenta in DT’s markets and Djingo in Orange’s.
 
The Orange CEO made the announcement in a speech on the development of artificial intelligence, of which smart speakers are one of the best-known and fastest-growing applications on the market today, he said. Richard called for a greater role for Europe in the burgeoning AI market, saying that it is an area in which “we need more Europe, not less.” The EU, he said, is “not especially advanced” in the industry and is currently investing six times less than the U.S. and three times less than Asia on AI development.
 
Amazon’s Alexa smart speaker system, which operates by connecting to Google’s search engine, dominates a market that is growing rapidly in developed markets. While it is not a mobile device strictly speaking, depending for the most part on home-based routers, the smart speaker market represents yet another area in which traditional operators are being marginalized by new technological developments developed and monetized by outside entities—the same entities that are challenging the MNOs on other playing fields, such as virtual mobile service including messaging and VoIP.
 
While Google and Amazon are giants so large that it is daunting to contemplate competing with them on their home turf, so to speak, it is noteworthy that two major international operators based in Europe are making the attempt. They may well be able to market this system effectively to their pre-existing customers, by leveraging their brand loyalty advantage, as well as by pricing it lower than Alexa.
 
The Magenta/Djingo system, which is the culmination of a longstanding cooperation between the German and French groups on procurement, R&D and network services, represents a way in which operators can wrest back control over customers’ use of internet-based services, keeping them within their ecosystems and strengthening their brands in the process.

Tarifica is the global leader in monitoring and analyzing telecom pricing. Covering hundreds of operators in every region of the globe, Tarifica’s databases of mobile and fixed line data and voice tariffs are among the largest and most in-depth in the world. Tarifica is also a leading publisher of benchmark and other pricing reports, and its analysts are recognized authorities in the telecom industry, relied upon by operators and businesses worldwide for pricing insight and guidance.  

To learn more about Tarifica, please visit www.tarifica.com 

Facebook Launches Low-Cost WiFi in Kenya

Facebook has activated low-cost internet access in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital, according to a report. The launch, which is part of the U.S.-based internet giant’s “Express Wi-Fi” program, is a joint project with Surf, a Kenyan ISP, and went live about three weeks ago.

The service is currently available in Nairobi and surrounding areas. Express Wi-Fi offers a 10-day package in which users get 100 MB free per day, after which they need to top up through recharge agents. Daily internet bundles cost KES 10.00 (US $0.10) for 40 MB and KES 20.00 (US $0.19) for 100 MB, while weekly Express Wi-Fi bundles cost KES 50.00 (US $0.48) for 300 MB and KES 100.00 (US $0.96) for 500 MB. Monthly bundles cost KES 200.00 (US $1.93) for 1.25 GB and KES 500.00 (US $4.81) for 3 GB. Surf Kenya CEO Mark Summer said that the prices are subject to change subsequent to the launch.


Express Wi-Fi is Facebook’s latest attempt—under its Internet.org initiative—to spread internet access in developing countries, the intent, of course, being to add users to Facebook. Before Kenya, it recently launched in Uganda, Nigeria and India. A previous program, called Free Basics, ran into trouble because by offering zero-rated access to Facebook and selected other sites, it ran afoul of net neutrality principles and was banned by India’s national regulator in February 2016. Express Wi-Fi is different in that it will not zero-rate and there will be no free connectivity.

The question is, will Express Wi-Fi be a genuine threat to mobile operators in Kenya? Its data is certainly much cheaper than that offered by the MNOs: Safaricom sells a 65 MB daily internet bundle for KES 50.00 (US $0.48), and Airtel and Orange charge the same amount for even less data, 50 MB and 40 MB, respectively. However, it is by no means clear what quality level Facebook and Surf will be able to deliver, what the actual footprint of the service will look like and how many hotspots there will be.

Even if Express Wi-Fi delivers on its promises, we believe that there are things the MNOs in Kenya can offer potential customers that Facebook cannot, at least at this point. Beyond the idea of cellular data versus Wi-Fi, operators in the African markets have discovered the power of mobile money services—notably Safaricom’s M-Pesa—as a way of attracting and keeping customers, and from all the evidence we can see, access to mobile money is going to continue to be a very important priority for users in this region. Stand-alone, non-MNO data services, since they lack this incentive, may have a hard time catching on despite the low initial pricing.

Tarifica is the global leader in monitoring and analyzing telecom pricing. Covering hundreds of operators in every region of the globe, Tarifica’s databases of mobile and fixed line data and voice tariffs are among the largest and most in-depth in the world. Tarifica is also a leading publisher of benchmark and other pricing reports, and its analysts are recognized authorities in the telecom industry, relied upon by operators and businesses worldwide for pricing insight and guidance.

To learn more about Tarifica, please visit www.tarifica.com 

Vodafone Ranks First in Spain for Network Quality

Spanish operator Vodafone has ranked first in the country for network quality, according to P3 Communications’ 2016 mobile benchmark tests. Vodafone received 865 points out of 1000, versus 836 for Movistar, 822 for Orange and 631 for Yoigo. Vodafone led in both the voice and data categories, and in 3G and 4G service alike. While all four major operators showed improvement over 2015’s results, Vodafone maintained the lead it had last year.

 
 

Despite ranking first in network quality, Vodafone ranks second in Spain in terms of subscriber base. We think the operator would do well to take these test results and use them aggressively to promote itself. Consumer satisfaction and quality of service are key factors in customer acquisition (and, of course, retention), and Vodafone should leverage the findings of this impartial, independent research entity to convince Spanish consumers to switch to its network.

Tarifica is the global leader in monitoring and analyzing telecom pricing. Covering hundreds of operators in every region of the globe, Tarifica’s databases of mobile and fixed line data and voice tariffs are among the largest and most in-depth in the world. Tarifica is also a leading publisher of benchmark and other pricing reports, and its analysts are recognized authorities in the telecom industry, relied upon by operators and businesses worldwide for pricing insight and guidance.

To learn more about Tarifica, please visit www.tarifica.com 

Spanish Mobile Spending Up for First Time Since 2011

According to data released by Spain’s telecom regulator CNMC, the average amount spent by Spanish users on mobile services increased for the first time in five years in the first half of 2015, The average spend in the first half of the year was €16.50 (US $17.92) a month, up slightly compared to the €16.20 (US $17.59) spent in the second half of 2014, albeit still some €6.50 (US $7.05) less than the average monthly spend of €23.00 (US $24.98) corresponding to the first half of 2011. Spain was hit particularly hard by the pan-European economic crisis that began in 2007–2008, and its mobile market reflected the situation in the country as a whole. Massive unemployment led to a serious reduction in consumer spending on mobile services. Amid this decline, cutthroat competition among operators for what was left of the consumer base led to record churn and price wars. With spending, prices and revenue so far down, by last year it appeared as if the Spanish mobile market had nowhere to go but up, and now it appears that that has in fact been the case. Spanish consumers are spending more on data than in the past—in line with the global movement toward greater data consumption—and operators Telefónica, Vodafone and Orange have recently raised prices, and these two factors are largely responsible for the increase in spending in the first half of 2015. Although the amount of the increase is certainly not large, the fact that it occurred at all is an important indicator, and we believe it is very likely that the trend will continue.

Tarifica is the global leader in monitoring and analyzing telecom pricing. Covering hundreds of operators in every region of the globe, Tarifica’s databases of mobile and fixed line data and voice tariffs are among the largest and most in-depth in the world. Tarifica is also a leading publisher of benchmark and other pricing reports, and its analysts are recognized authorities in the telecom industry, relied upon by operators and businesses worldwide for pricing insight and guidance. 

To learn more about Tarifica, please visit www.tarifica.com 

Orange Poland Offers New Version of VoIP App Libon

Orange Poland has introduced a new version of the application Libon for VoIP calls to any country in Europe and North America. For 10 minutes of calls customers pay PLN 4.29 (US $1.09); 100 minutes cost PLN 30.49 (US $7.75); 200 minutes cost PLN 52.19 (US $13.26) and the biggest package of 400 minutes costs PLN 82.99 (US $21.09), i.e. PLN 0.20 per minute. National calls within Poland as well as calls from anywhere in the world to Poland are cheaper—the package of 100 minutes costs PLN 7.99 (US $2.03); 250 minutes cost PLN 16.49 (US $4.19) and 500 minutes cost PLN 24.99 ($6.35). A free package of 100 minutes is available as a bonus upon registration for the app.

Libon, launched in 2012, is a VoIP app for iOS and Android created by France-based telecom giant Orange. It represents an attempt on the part of a major multinational operator to compete with the OTT services that have been undermining the voice services of MNOs, especially when it comes to out-of-country calling. While Libon is available for download even to those who are not Orange subscribers, and even in countries where Orange has no presence, in many cases it is used as a strategy to keep customers inside the Orange ecosystem, instead of resorting to WhatsApp, Skype or other similar services. The new version launched in Poland offers services that are attractively priced. In the domestic market, the prices are especially low; the question arises, then, as to whether or not they will cannibalize the operators cellular business within Poland, and whether that would be counterbalanced by revenue increases from international calling on the part of Orange subscribers who choose Libon. 

Tarifica is the global leader in monitoring and analyzing telecom pricing. Covering hundreds of operators in every region of the globe, Tarifica’s databases of mobile and fixed line data and voice tariffs are among the largest and most in-depth in the world. Tarifica is also a leading publisher of benchmark and other pricing reports, and its analysts are recognized authorities in the telecom industry, relied upon by operators and businesses worldwide for pricing insight and guidance. To learn more about Tarifica, please visit www.tarifica.com

Tarifica Global Insights Series

The pace of change in the mobile services industry is constantly accelerating. This means new opportunities will arrive faster than ever before and are likely to play out more quickly as well. Operators must watch carefully for these ‘waves of opportunities’ and quickly take advantage of them before they either become mainstream (and no longer have special value) or become obsolete as new disruptions impact the market.

The Tarifica Global Insights Series analyzes and reports on innovative practices in the development and marketing of consumer mobile plans. Each report describes a significant opportunity in mobile plan development and how operators are creating new plans in response to that opportunity. The series provides comprehensive, in-depth information that identifies best practices across more than 25 countries representing every region in the world, and enables operators to quickly and successfully take advantage of new strategies in plan development and marketing. The reports include case studies in multiple regions that describe best plan implementation and marketing practices that have enabled operators to quickly and successfully take advantage of new opportunities through innovative mobile plan development and marketing.

This series of reports is an important resource for operators that are searching for new and better ways to increase revenue and profits, desire to be perceived as leading edge ‘first movers,’ or need to defend their market share against disruptive offers from competitors. These reports enable operators to take advantage of Tarifica’s unique global vantage point to more quickly bring leading edge offers to market that capture new revenue opportunities.

The Tarifica Global Insights Series is an annual program comprised of four quarterly reports as shown below.

2016 Report Series 

QUARTER 1 (FEBRUARY 2016): Designed for Success – Developing Plans for the Youth and Student Demographic
 Globally, over half the world’s population is under the age of 30. While this percentage varies from country to country, the youth/student market segment has unique needs that must be understood in order to take advantage of this revenue opportunity. Moreover, when young people transition into adulthood and begin to make independent financial decisions, incumbency presents a unique opportunity for mobile operators to win long-term customers. This report will focus on the plans, promotions and other initiatives undertaken by operators to win and hold this key demographic.

QUARTER 2 (MAY 2016): Adapting to Changing Expectations – New Strategies for Pricing Smartphones and Pairing Them with Mobile Plans 
The practice of offering heavily subsidized devices tied to long-term plans no longer meets users’ needs for faster upgrades and shorter or more flexible contracts. As a result, operators are experimenting with numerous other models for selling high-end smartphones to their subscribers. This report will examine financing options, new phone replacement programs and other strategies aimed at helping consumers obtain smartphones and ramping up customers’ monthly mobile spend.

QUARTER 3 (AUGUST 2016): New Frontiers of Mobile Offerings –Partnerships with Streaming Audio and Video Services 
Operators around the world are exploring new revenue sources beyond mobile data. One approach is to partner with streaming media companies such as Spotify and Netflix. Mobile operators are increasingly offering plans with these services included or available as add-ons. This report will focus on the demographics and unique needs of this target market and their impact on plan structures, promotions, marketing practices and pricing. It will also analyze the differences among the various streaming services in terms of consumer perceptions.

QUARTER 4 (NOVEMBER 2016): Avoiding the ‘Dumb Pipe’ Trap – Innovative Approaches to Packaging and Pricing Data 
The decline in calling and messaging revenue has made many operators ever more dependent on data. This has made it difficult for operators to differentiate their offerings without lowering their per-GB price. Many mobile operators have been experimenting with new pricing models for their data to overcome this challenge. Among the many initiatives employed are offering time-limited data, having zero rated or dedicated data allowances for specific services/apps, offering rollover data, etc. This report will identify and analyze all of these tactics, with particular focus on their impact on consumer satisfaction, churn reduction and ARPU.

Analyst Support 

Every subscription comes with five hours of analyst support. Subscribers also receive one-on-one briefing sessions with Tarifica’s Analysts each quarter. Sessions, which include a Q&A format, are designed to help subscribers gain a further understanding of the strategies, innovations, trends and opportunities occurring worldwide in mobile plan development. A subscriber’s colleagues are welcome to attend these briefings.

Subscriber Benefits

The Tarifica Global Insights Series provides subscribers with two distinct layers of analysis:

First, the reports analyze how each service/strategy was deployed, branded and marketed. The reports dive deeply into every element of these plans (their included service volumes, one-time costs, recurring charges, restrictions, marketing campaigns, and more) to provide a comprehensive look at precisely how these plans are being designed and launched. This level of specificity is critical for operators seeking to create successful programs in their own market.

Second, these reports bring to bear worldwide examples and case studies analyzing the factors behind the success or failure of these new strategies. Subscribers to The Tarifica Global Insights Series will be able to learn from operators at the forefront of innovative practices and strategies. Subscribers will be able to view and compare many different versions of these strategies and understand the regional factors involved.

The Tarifica Global Insights Series provides meaningful business intelligence that can be used to design plans that decrease churn and win new customers. Each report evaluates the success/failure of strategies based on key performance indicators, assesses the ease/difficulty of replicating each approach and provides detailed sets of best practices for adapting the program to other markets.

The Tarifica Global Insights Series will facilitate subscribers’ efforts to increase revenue and profitability, gain market share, demonstrate innovative leadership and rapidly take advantage of new market opportunities.

Subscription Fee
The price for an annual subscription that includes all four quarterly reports, five hours of enquiry support and quarterly one-on-one briefings is US $15,000. The subscription fee will be reduced to US $10,000 for orders placed by 15 February 2016, representing a 33% early purchase discount.

About Tarifica
Tarifica is uniquely qualified to provide this series based on its singular focus on researching and analyzing mobile plans around the world. In maintaining the Tarifica Mobile Database, Tarifica’s research team tracks and catalogs every mobile plan, rate and offer from over 250 MNOs and MVNOs in 66 countries in every region of the globe. This effort enables Tarifica’s analysts to gain a broad understanding of the latest innovations in plan development occurring worldwide. With this new report series, Tarifica leverages this focus to highlight and analyze the most impactful strategies on a global level.

sales@tarifica.com

Tarifica

Orange, Bouygues Confirm Merger Talks

French operators Orange and Bouygues Telecom have confirmed that they are engaged in discussions preliminary to consolidation. Orange said in a statement that the talks are not limited by any timetable, nor do they presume commitment to any particular outcome. Orange added that it will act solely in the interest of its shareholders, employees and customers and will be vigilant with regard to the value created through any resulting project. Bouygues confirmed that a confidentiality agreement had been signed by the two companies as they look at various options and said more information will be disclosed as the discussions progress. Rumors of merger talks between Orange and Bouygues have been percolating since early December of 2015. France’s telecom market has been seeing very high levels of competition and falling prices since the entry of a fourth operator, Iliad’s low-priced operator Free in 2012. When Orange CEO Stéphane Richard suggested in September that the French market would benefit from consolidation, it did not appear that his company would make the move; now it appears that it at least taking a big step in that direction. Orange, the country’s largest operator, has been less affected by the price war than number-two Numericable-SFR and number-three Bouygues. If the merger were to take place, the combined entity would be in a very strong position indeed, with Orange way ahead of the competition. So much so, in fact, that the deal would create regulatory concerns that might only be assuaged by Orange and Bouygues selling off significant assets. Last year, when Altice, the parent company of Numericable-SFR, made a bid for Bouygues (which Bouygues eventually rejected), the French government’s economy minister opposed the deal on that grounds that it could create an entity “too big to fail.” If Orange and Bouygues do come to terms and the deal is approved, the merger would take its place on the growing roster of major telecom acquisitions in Europe over the past two years.

Tarifica is the global leader in monitoring and analyzing telecom pricing. Covering hundreds of operators in every region of the globe, Tarifica’s databases of mobile and fixed line data and voice tariffs are among the largest and most in-depth in the world. Tarifica is also a leading publisher of benchmark and other pricing reports, and its analysts are recognized authorities in the telecom industry, relied upon by operators and businesses worldwide for pricing insight and guidance. To learn more about Tarifica, please visit www.tarifica.com

Tarifica Mobile Database Alert Service

Tarifica’s Mobile Database now provides customizable alerts that notify subscribers of changes in mobile plans and offers. Instead of having to search through press releases, competitors' websites and advertisements, the Tarifica Mobile Database will instantly alert users whenever a plan with specified features has been added, updated or removed from the database.




Database subscribers can build personalized alerts tailored to their needs and interests based on dozens of distinct plan and offer characteristics.

 Examples include:
¨ New competitive promotions including seasonal specials
¨ Changes to the price of a selected device (such as the iPhone 6 Plus)
¨ Notifications when plans are no longer available
¨ Advisories on the launch of new value added plan partnerships (for example, Netflix or Spotify)
¨ Updates to international and roaming rates to/for selected countries
¨ Changes in service allowances expected to follow network enhancements


Database Example:

The Newsfeed

In addition to receiving email alerts of critical plan changes, this information will also be stored and presented in the subscriber's Newsfeed. This feature displays all of the user's Alerts by category. By selecting an Alert, the subscriber will be able to view every affected plan with indicators for newly added plans, existing plans that were modified and plans that were removed. Subscribers can use this feature to track every development in their market at a high level or leverage it to focus on changes to a single feature or series of plans. Users can also select any of the plans and immediately view every associated rate, feature, service and device.

The Newsfeed Features

¨ Clear indication of new, modified and removed items
¨ Alerts are categorized and listed separately for easy viewing
¨ Each Alert shows the number of notifications received
¨ Alerts can be viewed or hidden with a single click
¨ Date of Alert and the impacted plan names are clearly displayed
¨ All plan details are available by selecting “View Details” (sample shown on the next page)

Database Example:

View Details Display

¨ This view displays all of a plan's rates, included services, devices and associated features
¨ Modified plans are shown in side-by-side format with changes noted via a yellow dot on the left side of the screen, making it easy for users to see the evolution of the market


Database Example:

The Mobile Database

The Tarifica Mobile Database tracks every plan, offer and bundle from every major mobile operator in 66 countries around the world. For each consumer and business plan, the database tracks and displays every rate, included feature and restriction. This information provides subscribers with three critical services.

First, many subscribers rely on the Tarifica Mobile Database to monitor their rivals and the competitive environment in their market. Since the database tracks every mobile plan and displays this information in a clear and standardized fashion, it can free up the hundreds of hours of staff time that were previously invested in collecting this information by combing through competitors' websites, press releases, news articles, and other sources. With the Tarifica Mobile Database, subscribers can simply log on and know that they have comprehensive, up-to-date information at their fingertips.

Second, the Tarifica Mobile Database facilitates deeper and broader analyses of the mobile marketplace, both within a single country and across national boundaries than is possible with other tools. Unlike Excel based solutions for data gathering, the Tarifica Mobile Database is a true relational database and includes tools for easy searching, sorting and graphing of the data on any number of service and pricing elements thus enabling users to complete market research projects that would otherwise have been too resource intensive to undertake. Now, with the alert service subscribers can save even more time by bypassing having to search the database for critical information. In short, the Tarifica Mobile Database is able to turn its wealth of data on mobile plans and prices into actionable and meaningful intelligence through its large array of features and easy-to-use tools.

Third, the database enables users to draw insights from mobile plans around the world. Subscribers can easily view pricing and promotional strategies of innovative new plans and services and compare these across markets. Users can quickly select the specific plans or data needed to rapidly create customized benchmark reports, download this information to Excel and manipulate it as needed, including having the luxury to perform any number of “What if” analyses.



The Tarifica Mobile Database features:

¨ Every plan, rate, bundle, feature and service from hundreds of mobile operators
¨ Easy searching and querying
¨ Ability to graph results and/or download to Excel
¨ Coverage of included devices and prices


Database Example:

Data Sourcing

Tarifica is a research, consulting and data analytics firm that has served mobile and fixed line operators, regulators and consultants for four decades. Throughout this time, our focus has been on tracking the evolution of the market including competitive strategies and potentially disruptive factors in global plans, offers and rates.

Tarifica employs a team of researchers who are constantly reviewing mobile operators' websites, telecom news articles and press releases, and discussing plans with sales representatives. Ultimately, they standardize this information and enter it into the Tarifica Mobile Database. Before new entries are accepted, all of the data must pass a thorough review from a senior researcher to ensure that it is up-to-date, accurate and clearly presented.

Tarifica is the global leader in monitoring and analyzing telecom pricing. Covering hundreds of operators in every region of the globe, Tarifica’s databases of mobile and fixed line data and voice tariffs are among the largest and most in-depth in the world. Tarifica is also a leading publisher of benchmark and other pricing reports, and its analysts are recognized authorities in the telecom industry, relied upon by operators and businesses worldwide for pricing insight and guidance. To learn more about Tarifica, please visit www.tarifica.com

Play Offers the Best Value Mobile Plans in Poland

A recent study by Tarifica found that Play’s mobile plans offer the best value for consumers.  

The study was conducted using the Tarifica Score™, a proprietary algorithm that ranks every available mobile plan based on the value they offer consumers. The formula incorporates all aspects of a mobile plan, including its usage allotments, data speeds, value added features and any promotions, and weighs these against the plan’s total costs, ultimately determining its consumer value. 

Plans are divided into two categories – “with phone” and “SIM-only” – each of which are then subdivided into five price-based subcategories. This setup allows consumers to find the best plan for the money after answering two simple questions:  

• Do I need a new phone with the plan? 
• What is my budget? 

Of the ten total categories, Play offered the Top Value Plan in seven, more than double all other mobile operators combined. This dominant performance was fueled primarily by the fact that Play’s plans tend to include greater service volumes, particularly for data, at lower prices than its competition. An example can be seen in a comparison of T-Mobile’s Jump Max plan and Play’s Formula Smartfon Unlimited. The former includes unlimited voice and SMS and 5GB of data for PLN 99, whereas the latter includes unlimited voice, unlimited SMS and unlimited data for only PLN 69.99– a full 30% less. When combined with Play’s competitive average download speeds, this advantage in volume versus cost propelled it to victory at virtually every price point.  

“From a value perspective, Play is simply the consumer’s best option. Its plans outpace those from every other Polish operator by a significant margin,” stated Edyta Krzton, Tarifica’s Poland analyst.  

Orange, Plus, and T-Mobile each tied for a distant second place, winning just one price category apiece. Of these, Plus stood out. The operator finished a close second to Play in a number of categories, even though it was ultimately only able to capture one. Orange and T-Mobile were relatively close to each other in terms of price and included features, but T-Mobile was generally able to edge out Orange’s plans based on its significantly higher average download speed.   

“In today’s mobile marketplace, consumers are flooded with hundreds of plan variations and constantly shifting promotions and deals—the majority of which come with different costs and services and access networks of differing strengths. When making a decision that will likely impact them for some time to come, consumers can use Tarifica Scores to cut through the clutter and identify those plans in every market segment that offer the best value for the money,” stated Tarifica Program Manager, Will Watts. 

Tarifica has been the leading provider of telecom pricing information for close to four decades. It maintains the most robust, in-depth and up-to-date pricing database in the industry, which includes mobile and fixed line rates from over 400 operators in 85 countries, as well as historical data going back to 1997. Tarifica also produces reports, surveys, publications and custom analyses.Its clients include carriers, regulators, enterprises and consultants in every region of the globe.For more information, please visit www.tarifica.com. Tarifica also maintains a presence on the following social media platforms: