Sunrise Launches Connectivity Platform to Manage IoT SIMs

Swiss operator Sunrise said that it has introduced a Connectivity Management Platform (CMP) that allows customers to autonomously activate and manage SIM cards for IoT applications.

Existing applications can be integrated through an application programming interface (API). Sunrise’s basic IoT service includes data access with real-time data analytics, customized rate plans for SIM cards, standard reports and a transparent display of connection details. Personalized reporting is offered as an additional option. 

The IoT solution can be tailored to individual needs at any time, using Sunrise IoT Connect, a managed service with a round-the-clock help desk and service to monitor the network. The platform is hosted in Swiss data centers. In order to run Sunrise IoT Connect, Sunrise works with an ecosystem of partners in the fields of sensors, device management and data analysis, as well as IT and business process integration.

The vast and rapid increase in the use of IoT applications has brought about a tremendous proliferation of SIMs issued for the purposes of moving data for such applications. Sunrise’s basic IoT offering includes, beyond the basic connectivity itself, various ancillary features such as data analytics. However, it appears that there was room for a new level of support which is now being offered through the Connectivity Management Platform.

By making it easier for businesses to keep track of their IoT SIMs, Sunrise’s CMP should have the effect of encouraging the uptake of more SIMs for IoT applications. Mobile operators would do well not only to focus on enabling more and more complex functionalities to take place over these IoT connections, but also on helping customers monitor their connections in a user-friendly and seamless manner. By enabling them to manage a relatively large number of connections all at once, an operator such as Sunrise promotes the purchase of more lines and, thereby, the channeling of more revenue.

Transparency with regard to data consumption is particularly important in this regard, because if a business customer is going to subscribe to multiple IoT SIMs, it will need to be particularly conscious of costs and efficiency. If the operator is perceived as prioritizing those goals, that will strengthen its position with subscribers, with the reward being loyalty and long-term retention and growth. The round-the-clock help desk with direct human contact should also go a long way toward building consumer confidence, boosting the operator’s ability to maximize its sale of IoT SIMs.

Mobile operator Tele2 Russia said that customers who are not able to return to Russia due to restrictions related to the Covid-19 pandemic will get free access to messaging services while abroad, through 30 April. The option will also be available for those prepaid customers with a zero balance for their devices.

The option will be available in Europe, Asia, Australia and the U.S. The messaging apps included in the deal will be WhatsApp, Viber and TamTam.

We have recently reviewed a number of initiatives that MNOs have taken to provide support to their subscribers during the coronavirus pandemic. This one from Tele2 Russia is noteworthy in that it not provides some relief for those affected by the situation but also involves a very valid self-preservation strategy for the operator.

As mobile customers find themselves in new and disadvantageous circumstances due to the disease itself and also to the economic impact of the restrictions on travel and movement, operators can be in danger of losing some of those customers, or at least losing some of the revenue from them, if those customers are no longer able to pay as much as before.

In this case, Tele2 Russia is addressing the issue of subscribers who are trapped outside their home country. Ordinarily, they would need to continue to pay international roaming charges or purchase special roaming packages for the duration. However, the operator, by zero-rating some popular messaging apps, is making it possible for these clients to stay in touch with family and associates in Russia while they must remain abroad for longer than anticipated.

Absent such a measure, Tele2 might find itself in the position of losing subscribers. Faced with long-term, higher-than-expected charges, they could possibly have no choice but to terminate service. And if contracts lapse, even if during a time of extraordinary pressures, they may not be renewed again when the crisis is over. So by throwing what is in essence a mobile lifeline to subscribers, the operator is making it possible for them to remain in its ecosystem, albeit through the medium of third-party OTT messaging apps. Then, when they can return home, they will be able to remain there, and happy to do so.

 Tarifica is a global SaaS company that is the 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.

Sunrise Launches Youth Initiative

Swiss operator Sunrise has launched a program called Sunrise Young Voices, in order to focus more strongly on the youth demographic. The Sunrise Young campaign was developed by people under 30—both inside and outside the company—and focuses on zero-rated social media and streaming services.

The new youth-oriented products are offered within the operator’s Freedom Young Swiss Data and Sunrise One Young Light packages. Existing Sunrise Freedom Young subscriptions will gain some new features without price increases. Along with unlimited LTE+ data at speeds up to 700 Mbps for CHF 45.00 (US $44.61) a month, as before, starting on 19 November it will have  unlimited WhatsApp data in Switzerland is being supplemented by unlimited roaming data for WhatsApp. The zero-rating of data applies to text, image and video files, as well as to audio. WhatsApp VoIP, however, is not included. A similar arrangement applies to Snapchat.

Sunrise One Young Light offers unlimited internet and a mobile subscription at home, as well as unlimited surfing, messaging, YouTube, and apps while on the go, all for CHF 99.00 (US $98.15) a month, and always with the highest possible connection speed. The Forever Young guarantee from Sunrise allows customers to keep their Young subscription after they turn 30, at the same price and with all the benefits offered by a Young subscription.

Sunrise Freedom Young campaign was developed by young people and trainees at Sunrise. The main actors in the campaign are young people from Switzerland between 16 and 25. The smartphone youth study marks the start of a more intense focus by Sunrise on the under-30 segment. In the future, a team of young people and teenagers known as Sunrise Young Voices will help Sunrise gain a more extensive insight into the digital lifestyles of people under 30, as well as the things that are generally important to them. Sunrise Young Voices will meet regularly with Sunrise representatives, including top management.

The importance of the youth demographic for mobile operators cannot be overstated. Youth (variously defined, but under 30 is a reliable metric) is a window in which life choices about brand loyalty are determined, and operators need to take advantage of that fact by gaining customers at that age. And in order to win them over, operators need to understand the usage patterns and cultural preferences that are characteristic of the demographic.

Studying the demographic from a distance is no substitute for directly engaging with young users themselves, and we think that Sunrise’s proactive approach of recruiting people within the company and even from outside it, to work on a task force, is an excellent one.

Recognizing that young users are more data-oriented than older ones, and that they rely heavily on portals such as WhatsApp and Snapchat is important, of course, but an operator in today’s competitive markets will have to move beyond simply zero-rating data on certain apps or even making sure that plan prices for youth are kept low enough for their budgets. Operators will have to show a sensitivity to youths’ tastes, usage habits and cultural proclivities in order to win and keep their business. They have to design advertising and marketing campaigns that are tailored to youths, and they will have to make it possible to subscribe in ways that are maximally seamless in terms of the ways youths tend to access services. In short, setting up a program such as Sunrise Young Voices is an excellent move, particularly for operators that to date have not made an aggressive attempt to design packages exclusively for the under-30 demographic.

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 

Sunrise Launches Daily Unlimited Plan

Swiss operator Sunrise is extending its unlimited mobile offer to prepaid customers, offering unlimited communications for 24 hours for CHF 2.50 (US $2.57). This includes unlimited calls, SMS and MMS in Switzerland, as well as unlimited data at up to 300 Mbps. The 24-hour period starts whenever the user initiates the first call, text or data connection. Sunrise said the offer will work well for tourists and other customers who may not use their phone everyday.

Sunrise also introduced new mobile broadband offers for users of laptops, tablets or mobile Wi-Fi hotspots, replacing its previous Take Away Freedom subscriptions. All three new plans come with unlimited data, while the price varies according to speed, at CHF 9.00 (US $9.25) per month for up to 2 Mbps, CHF 19.00 (US $19.52) for up to 10 Mbps and CHF 49.00 (US $50.34) for the maximum 300 Mbps plus 1 GB of roaming data in its Region 1, which includes Europe, the United States and Canada. No minimum contract is required with the plans, and customers with a Freedom or Home subscription receive a 10 percent discount. In addition to a mobile hotspot from CHF 1.00 (US $1.03), Sunrise also offers a SIM for CHF 9.00 (US $9.25) per month that allows customers to use their smartphone plan on another device.

With these offers, Sunrise is responding to increased consumer demand for both flexibility and generous data. Unlimited offers have traditionally been aimed at higher-end postpaid customers. Offering unlimited calls and data not only to prepaid customers but on an ultra-short-term, essentially pay-as-you-go basis is unusual, and appears to address the needs of a niche demographic—tourists and travelers who will not need the service long-term or even every day during their trip, but who will use their smartphones heavily when they do use them. As an alternative to international roaming charges (for users from outside the EU, of course, after the end of such surcharges there in June), Sunrise’s offer seems like a very good one, with the daily price low enough not to be a deterrent to use.

Sunrise also extends the unlimited concept to long-term plans, at least as far as data is concerned, and again with flexibility in mind, as embodied in the no-contract provision and in the SIM offer allowing the plan features to be accessible from another device.  

Since unlimited data offers are a gamble for operators, there is an incentive to hedge them in some way. In this case, we wonder whether the strategy of differentiating the plan levels by data speed is a sound one. The trend in the worldwide mobile marketplace is toward ever-greater speed, and consumers increasingly use apps and services (such as streaming entertainment content) that demand very high data speeds. Therefore, lower prices contingent on lower speeds may not be particularly appealing to the targeted users—even if those speeds are adequate for most purposes. 

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