Italy’s 1Mobile Launches Unlimited Data Plan

Italian MVNO 1Mobile, also operating under the brand name Carrefour UnoMobile, has announced the launch of an unlimited data plan on Vodafone’s 4G/LTE network whose price is reduced after the first three months. The operator’s new Giga Unlimited Reward plan comes with unlimited data, but no calls or SMS, for €16.99 (US $19.26) a month, going down to €14.99 (US $16.99) after three months. Activation fees are €3.00 (US $3.40) until 31 July (€8.00, or US $9.07, thereafter) while SIM cards cost €10.00 (US $11.34) including tracked delivery.

SMS cost 9 eurocents, and for voice calls users can choose to pay 9 eurocents a minute (plus 20 eurocents for the call setup) under the default plan or 18 eurocents a minute with no call setup under the 1Mobile Senza Scatto plan.

We draw attention to this simple MVNO offering because of the way its promotional discount is structured. Under the conventional approach, users get a discount up front, as an incentive to sign up for the service. Relying on the general principle that people think in the present rather than the future, operators entice them with a low price, with the proviso that it will be raised after a certain introductory period. If the users are satisfied with the service, goes the reasoning, they will stay with it despite the higher cost.

This logic does tend to work well with postpaid plans that have commitments; however, when it comes to prepaid plans with budget MVNOs, the operators struggle more to keep subscribers in a market space with no commitment and plenty of competing offers. So, in this case, 1Mobile sees the wisdom in making the discount contingent on staying with the operator for a certain period of time. Those customers who show some staying power in treating the MVNO as a company with which they would like a longer-term relationship will get the reward. We think this is a savvy strategy for budget virtual operators and perhaps in general for prepaid plans.

We should point out that this plan is also noteworthy for being unlimited with regard to data only, while calls and SMS are charged for. This is likely appealing to younger users who use voice less than their elders and rely on OTT apps for texting.

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.

Vodafone Ghana Introduces Mobile Money Installment Plans for Large Purchases

Vodafone Ghana has introduced a new feature on Vodafone Cash, its mobile money platform, that offers customers interest-free, flexible payment options for various products and services, including smartphones, laptops, home appliances and travel packages. The new service, known as Pay Small Small (PaySS), allows customers to make mobile payments over a period of 3 to 12 months when they purchase products and services from any of Vodafone’s partners. 

To subscribe, registered customers of Vodafone Cash must first visit and select an item from a partner’s shop. They can then set up the payment plan using the USSD menu. During the subscription process, the first installment will be deducted from the customer’s Vodafone Cash account, and subsequent payments will be made using the same process. Customers may also make full payment at any given time if they wish to do so, without any adverse consequences. After successfully paying in full, the customer can pick up the item from the shop or enjoy the service by providing a code that will be sent to them. 

Mobile money has been extremely successful worldwide, especially in poorer countries and remote regions where it has been instrumental in n extending liquidity to so-called unbanked and under-banked segments of populations. Sub-Saharan Africa, where the most successful mobile money platform, Safaricom’s M-Pesa, originated, continues to be one of the most important markets for mobile money solutions.

Given that one of the main reasons for mobile money to exist—albeit certainly not the only reason—is to address the needs of economically disadvantaged customers, Vodafone Ghana’s installment option is a natural and, we think, very useful extension of the mobile money concept. Those customers in particular who depend on mobile money not just for convenience’s sake but because they lack access to traditional bank accounts and credit cards are likely to have difficulty making large purchases because of lack of cash on hand.

Vodafone Cash customers can use Pay Small Small to make manageable payments over time for goods and services, on what is essentially a “lay-away” plan. The lack of interest payments, as well as the flexibility that allows the customer to choose whether to pay in 3 month, 12 months, or anything in between, should be quite appealing to these customers.

We believe that by partnering with merchants and service providers in Ghana to make this payment process available to its subscribers, Vodafone will be serving the community, increasing its customer loyalty, burnishing its public image and, of course, promoting the general use and uptake of its mobile money service.

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.

Vodafone Spain Introduces All-you-can-eat data

Vodafone Spain has announced a significant reduction on the price of its mobile plans with all-you-can-eat data, one day after Movistar Spain (owned by Telefónica) launched its first unlimited consumer data offers. Movistar reduced the price on its new Contrato Infinito unlimited data plan from €39.95 (US $43.40) a month to €24.95 a month for 12 months, and Vodafone then cut the price of its premium Ilimitada Total plan to €24.95 (US $27.11) a month from the standard price of €49.95 (US $54.27). 

Both plans come with unlimited calls and SMS plus data at the highest possible download speeds, including 5G where available. However, after the 12-month period is over, Vodafone’s plan will cost €49.95 a month, compared to €39.95 for Movistar’s.

Over the past two years, all-you-can-eat data offers for consumers have proliferated in the Spanish market. The first to enter, in 2018, was Yoigo, the country’s fourth-largest MNO, owned by Másmóvil. That was followed by unlimited-data plans from Vodafone Spain (2019) and Orange Spain (2020). Movistar, the first-ranked Spanish operator, introduced an unlimited offer for business customers only, in late January of 2020. Contrato Infinito, the consumer unlimited plan that it launched on 20 April, marks its entry into the field.

Vodafone, Spain’s third-largest operator, has responded with great rapidity to Movistar’s move, countering one day later, on 21 April, with a comparable offer, called Ilimitada Total. The standard price of Contrato Infinito is €49.95 a month, but Movistar is offering a promotional price of €24.95 a month to customers who switch to the operator’s postpaid service from prepaid or port their number from another operator by 30 April.

The counter-offer from Vodafone is certainly competitive in the sense that—at least on paper—it provides the same unlimited data plus unlimited calls and SMS, as well as 5G access wherever available. As a way to keep existing customers in its ecosystem by removing the temptation to migrate to Movistar, it seems like quite a good idea. Of course, undercutting Movistar on price rather than matching its price would be even more effective in attracting new subscribers, and offering some plan features or add-ons that add distinction would also be more powerful and persuasive. Nonetheless, quickly matching a competitor’s offer is a legitimate strategy.

However, the fact that the eventual cost of Vodafone’s plan will be €10.00 a month higher than Movistar’s is a potential concern. The operator can perhaps count on the fact that subscribers will be thinking more about the immediate cost savings than about what will happen in 12 months’ time, but especially now, with the global pandemic going on, consumer spending habits are likely to be more conservative. Ultimately, of course, when it comes to unlimited data offers, much depends on the real-world performance of the networks. 

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.

Vodafone Idea Launches Phone-Based Safety Service for Women

Indian operator Vodafone Idea has introduced a service called Vodafone Idea Sakhi, which allows women to manage their security through their mobile phones, the operator said. Vodafone Idea Sakhi users can carry out mobile recharges privately, use emergency calling, and send an Emergency Alert containing their location to up to 10 mobile phone numbers. 

The Sakhi mobile-based safety service is exclusively available to women who use Vodafone and Idea prepaid or postpaid services. Its features include Private Number Recharge, Emergency Alerts, Emergency Balance. Vodafone Idea Sakhi can be used on feature phones as well as smartphone, and the safety features can be accessed even when there is no balance or mobile internet connection, thus ensuring that the service is accessible to women at all times, the operator said.

To activate the Sakhi service, Vodafone and Idea customers can dial a special number and update their emergency contact numbers. When faced with a challenging situation, Sakhi users can make a call to a special short number free of charge to send emergency alerts to their contacts.

Market competitor Bharti Airtel also offers carrier-agnostic safety app called My Circle, which launched in April 2019 in partnership with the FICCI Ladies Organisation (FLO), the women’s business wing of the trade group FICCI. The app is designed to empower women in the event of any distress or panic situation. My Circle allows women to send SOS alerts to any five of their family or friends in 13 languages including English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Marathi, Punjabi, Bangla, Urdu, Assamese, Oriya and Gujarati.

Vodafone Idea Sakhi is an innovative offering that is bound to increase consumer confidence in the operator, as well as brand loyalty. Women in India are organizing and speaking out against misogyny and violence targeting women, and amid the campaign to protect women’s safety and dignity, this mobile-phone-based service is particularly appropriate and useful. More and more Indian women are recognizing the need to advocate for themselves and protect themselves, and Vodafone Idea Sakhi makes it possible for them to harness technology in order to do so, with ease and without added expense.

The features of the Sakhi service are all well thought-out. Sending out an emergency alert to a list of contacts is of course very useful if one is being attacked or entering into an unsafe situation, and the embedding of the caller’s location makes it easy for authorities or others to get to the place in time or at least have the information for an investigation. As for distress phone calls, the fact that Vodafone makes them available free of charge no matter what the subscriber’s account balance means that it is placing safety first and making sure that no one will ever be denied access to telephony during an emergency. Making the service available even on feature phones or when there is no data access for smartphones also speaks to the need for universal access. And finally, the Emergency Balance feature allows women to recharge their prepaid accounts without anyone knowing whether they have done so or by how much, thus protecting their privacy.

While it is true that Bharti Airtel’s service is potentially more appealing because it is carrier-agnostic, Vodafone Idea Sakhi has more features. Also, the fact that it is for subscribers only means that it will have the power to draw subscribers into the Vodafone ecosystem. And since it is very democratic, available to all subscribers irrespective of whether they are postpaid or prepaid, smartphone or non-smartphone users, it is a particularly powerful outreach on the part of the operator. 

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 

Italian Operators Offer Bonus Data in Coronavirus Areas

As northern Italy remains partially quarantined and under high alert due to the coronavirus epidemic, the country’s major mobile operators are offering free data to their subscribers.

Vodafone Italia has announced that all customers living in areas hit by the coronavirus outbreak will be given access to unlimited mobile data for a month. The operator will be sending an SMS to affected customers informing them of the automatic activation of the offer, adding that a similar initiative will be launched for business customers in the whole of the country.

Wind Tre automatically activated a 100 GB data bundle for customers residing in the most affected areas starting 24 February and is also offering free top-ups to customers contacting its call centers who are currently unable to access digital channels. The move covers both the Wind and 3 Italia brands.

And Telecom Italia (TIM) has begun contacting customers living in areas hit by the coronavirus outbreak in northern Italy to offer them unlimited mobile data. In an SMS sent to selected clients, the operator said the “unlimited data” option will be automatically activated for 30 days starting 27 February and capped at 500 GB. The move comes after TIM last week announced the temporary suspension of its “Operazione Risorgimento Digitale” (“Operation Digital Renaissance”) education project and roadshow in view of the spread of the coronavirus in northern Italian provinces.

The level of dependence that subscribers have on their mobile operators in today’s world is so high that in a crisis, the operator inevitably becomes a lifeline. Italy is now one of the world’s hotspots for coronavirus, and all three major operators have risen to the occasion and made offers of free data to their subscribers. These offers should have the effect of reassuring subscribers that no matter what happens, their MNO will be there for them, and that they will not run our of essential data. Providing that comfort level in a time of instability and fear increases loyalty, which is likely to remain in place long after the crisis is past.

In a quarantine situation, one concern is that people will need more data because they will have to use their mobile devices to do things that they would have done in person if they had freedom of movement. Therefore, free bonus data is particularly appropriate. And the fact that it is free is even more relevant that usual because customers may be afraid that their income stream will be reduced or interrupted due to the economic effects of the coronavirus outbreak.

The three operators’ offers differ somewhat. Vodafone’s is the most generous; there is no stated cap to the unlimited data and the offer extends to business customers, as well (of course businesses are strongly affected economically by the quarantines and shutdowns, which include disruptions to supply chains). TIM says it offers “unlimited” data but imposes an upper limit of 500 GB—still a quite generous amount—while Wind Tre does not describe its offer as unlimited but rather as a free 100 GB bundle. So while all the MNOs will almost surely make gains in customer confidence during this time of difficulty, there is a competitive aspect that may also have an effect on the way users perceive the operators.

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 Germany Sees Mobile Data Traffic Grow by Nearly 40 Percent in 2019

Vodafone Germany said that more than 770 million GB of data was transmitted through its mobile network over the past 12 months. This is almost a 40 percent increase compared to 2018. 

The largest amount of data was registered in North Rhine-Westphalia, with 134 million GB consumed. Around 20 million GB of data passed through the network in Hamburg, 24 million in Thuringia and 35 million in Berlin. 

The daily traffic record was set on 11 December, when over 2.8 million GB were sent over the network. Vodafone expected to set another record over the New Year’s holidays. 

Vodafone has expanded its mobile network this year, with 7,400 4G/LTE mobile sites in operation. It increased the capacity of the network and reduced the number of white spots in its LTE coverage over a total area of almost 35,000 square kilometers. In addition, the operator started 5G services in August and currently has 140 5G antennae in more than 40 cities available to provide data connection at higher speeds.

Considering that mobile data is a long-established and essential feature of nearly every sphere of life, a 40 percent increase in its use in just one year, in a developed market and on the network of a major operator, is something to sit up and take notice of.

While the commencement of 5G service is doubtless a factor, it cannot be the only factor and actually appears not to be the most important one. Being new, the high-speed service is not nearly as widely available and subscribed to as 4G/LTE. And furthermore, it was launched after more than half the year had already gone by. Therefore, there must have been other reasons for the dramatic jump in data consumption.

Vodafone stated that it increased the capacity of its LTE network and reduced the number of white spots or dead spots in the coverage footprint. We believe these factors are very important, and that they have something important to say to mobile operators in general about the value of investment in various kinds of networks.

While 5G is exciting and promises not only higher speeds but entire new applications, MNOs should not lose sight of the importance of investing in LTE networks. LTE is far from being a “legacy” technology, and very large numbers of customers will continue to utilize it for a long time to come. Traffic over LTE will continue to generate large amounts of revenue for operators—the more so if they are aggressively maintained and improved. And this example from Germany also suggests that dead spots continue to be a major issue even in highly developed markets (the U.K. is another that comes to mind), and that working to eliminate them will pay serious dividends in data-use revenues. 

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 Germany Mulls Partnership to Combine 5G With LiFi

Vodafone Germany said that it wants to build a partnership with Signify (formerly Phillips Lighting) to develop the use of LiFi technology in local networks in combination with 5G.

Such a partnership would enable customers of Vodafone to benefit from very fast connections, up to gigabit speeds. Signify recently introduced a LiFi system that uses light waves instead of radio signals such as WiFi or Bluetooth to provide wireless data transmission.

The system is called Trulifi. It uses lighting infrastructure to provide a reliable and secure high-speed broadband connection of up to 250 Mbps. A system combining 5G and LiFi may bring benefits to a variety of industries and to the Internet of Things generally.

LiFi, which uses light to transmit mobile data, has several advantages, as well as one disadvantage that could conceivably be taken as an advantage in certain circumstances. It enables signals to be transmitted in environments where cellular or other RF signals are overcrowded or where RF signals perform badly or are restricted for security or safety reasons. It is also easy to use in that it can be retrofitted to existing lighting systems and does not require an infrastructure of special lights to be installed. The potential difficulty is that LiFi cannot penetrate walls, which can be a concern in complex structures. However, that could be a strength in circumstances where privacy is important, in that the signal could be kept contained.

Up until now, LiFi has been an experimental solution, in development, but Signify’s Trulifi (launched earlier this year) marks the first time it is available on a workable basis, ready for implementation. On its own, LiFi is particularly appropriate for specialized, contained industrial environments. Combined with 5G, though it could have much wider utility, and it is this that has attracted Vodafone’s attention.

While it is clearly in an early stage of discussion, a partnership between a mobile operator and Signify to create a hybrid system of 5G and LiFi makes sense. Delivery of high-speed IoT solutions and industrial-based networks generally is desired by enterprises in many markets. The speed race is on, and it is not only speed that is wanted; it is also consistency and reliability. 5G signals will need boosting and support in challenging industrial and special-purpose environments, where WiFi and other RF signals often do not work well. In such circumstances, LiFi could step in. If a mobile operator can work with a cutting-edge technology partner to provide this kind of support, it will be one-up on the competition.

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 Germany Tests First Driverless Train Controlled by 5G​

Telecom operator Vodafone Germany said that it has steered the first driverless train with its 5G network at the Smart Rail Connectivity Campus. The new mobile technology enabled bandwidths of more than 500 Mbps on the test track and reduced latency to less than 10 milliseconds. 

Vodafone remotely controlled the train using 5G network slicing. This allows different virtual networks to share a physical network structure. For the field test, Vodafone provided a separately tailored 5G network, so that optimal mobile radio capacities can always be available for remote control of the train, even if many users in the immediate vicinity use the network. In addition, the data is processed directly on-site in a Mobile Edge Cloud (MEC).

We have heard a great deal lately about the emerging technology of driverless cars and how 5G can make them more effective. However, we feel that driverless trains represent an excellent opportunity for operators to implement 5G, and in fact a less risky opportunity.

While there are various interpretations of the term “driverless” when it comes to motor vehicles (partial or full-assist automatic driving), there are serious risks involved in drivers giving up control to automated systems. News reports have recently informed us about serious and even fatal accidents involving driverless cars, and while the technology may eventually succeed in the marketplace, at the moment the public and municipalities have concerns that these cars may not be safe enough. So by investing heavily in 5G-powered driverless cars, MNOs may be gambling to a certain extent with their public image and their brands.

On the other hand, passengers on a train have already ceded control to the rail company, the train conductors and the automation technologies that the trains currently implement to avoid collisions. A fully automated 5G solution would simply be an extension of this situation. Therefore, by building business along the lines of what Vodafone is planning in Germany, MNOs could be cultivating a major source of revenue without as many risks—not only actual safety risks but the risk to their image as purveyors of reliable and safe products for consumers. 

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 

One Quarter of Dutch Users Interested in Family Plans if Costs Are Saved

A quarter of Dutch consumers would be interested in a family mobile plan if it resulted in cost savings, according to a research report. Another 18 percent would choose a family plan if it cost the same as individual mobile plans and offers additional benefits.

Twelve percent of Dutch users said they would consider a family plan for mobile services if all the members of the household are already with the same provider. Nineteen percent said that keeping their number was a condition for taking such a plan. Another 12 percent said they are interested in a family plan but do not want to change providers. In total, two-thirds (65 percent) of Dutch users say they are interested in family plans.

The only operator in the Netherlands currently offering a family plan is Vodafone. The first line on its Red Together plan costs €35.00 (US $39.08) per month, and each additional SIM is €15.00 (US $16.75). All members use the same data bundle, which includes 80 GB per month. Vodafone customers who also take fixed services under the Ziggo brand receive double the monthly data amount.

While it does not have a family plan per se, T-Mobile Netherlands offers discounts ranging from €2.50 to €10.00 per month to customers who multiple mobile plans at the same address.

Here is a situation in which most of the operators in a national market are not offering services that a significant number of users actually want. Only one operator offers family plans, and the only comparable offer is a set of discounts that is not marketed as a family plan On the most general principles, it would appear that operators in the Netherlands would do well to offer family plans.

The question, of course, is the level and type of interest in family plans, and the conditions attached. Some users would sign on to a family plan but only if they can stay with their current operator, which means that a rival operator’s offer of a family plan would be no threat to the incumbent. Other users says they would only want a family plan if all (not just some) of the residents of the household are already with the same operator. Again, that condition is somewhat exclusionary, and operators may consider it not worth their while to introduce a new type of plan which involves discounted services.

On the other hand, a full 25 percent of users in the country say they would take a family plan, with the only condition being that it would save them money, and 18 percent would do so as long as costs remained the same per user. These sectors of the market would seem to be fair game, and it would quite likely be worthwhile for an operator to introduce family plans to answer these needs. If they do not, a rival operator, such as Vodafone, could conceivably take subscribers away from them. 

 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 

Less Than Half of SIMs in Germany Use High-Speed Networks

Only 47 percent of German SIM cards use 4G/LTE networks as of the end of 2018, according to the country’s Federal Network Agency. The agency cited many low-cost service providers that do not yet provide access to LTE, as well as end-users who hang onto older devices.

At the same time, spectrum licensing requirements are forcing mobile operators to focus more on LTE network coverage, in order to meet minimum speeds of 50 Mbps for at least 98 percent of households in Germany by the end of 2019. The report said this could cause problems for the consumers who still rely on 3G, as the spectrum is shifted to 4G and 5G networks. Mobile operators are already planning to shut down their 3G networks. Vodafone is aiming for the period 2020–21, and Deutsche Telekom is expected to phase out 3G coverage by the end of 2020.

Oliver Krischer, deputy leader of the Greens parliamentary group, said that more needed to be done to protect 3G users, including a two-year moratorium on decommissioning 3G network sites, according to a news report. Krischer also wants stronger rights for third-party service providers to gain access to LTE networks.

As the telecom speed race continues worldwide with great fanfare in the media, this report from a highly developed market is a timely reminder that many users are at risk of being left behind or already are left behind. It is quite startling to realize that in Europe’s largest national economy, more than half the connections are still 3G. Of course, the German government is taking a strong hand in pushing all operators—very much including budget MVNOs—toward high-speed service in the near future. But there is a substantial risk that as operators shut down 3G networks, legacy users will be negatively affected because they do not have LTE-compatible devices, let alone 5G devices.

Politicians such as Oliver Krischer are advocating for the protection of these users and for making it easier for smaller MNOs and MVNOs to deploy high-speed service. But the major operators should also realize that it is in their interest not to move ahead so quickly that they leave a significant portion of their own customers in the lurch. Keeping 3G networks active long enough for customers to comfortably make the transition to 4G/LTE is simply good business, from a retention point of view, and especially so given the large number of 3G SIMs. The number is so big that budget providers could hardly account for all of them.

If operators want to move everyone over to LTE as soon as possible and be able to phase out 3G, they should do everything they can to place LTE-compatible devices in the hands of their subscribers at affordable prices. And in the larger sense, a time of transition between old and new network technologies will also have to be a time of creative strategy in terms of keeping prices down. 

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 

Vodafone Ukraine Launches Cloud Service

Mobile operator Vodafone Ukraine has launched a new cloud-storage service called Vodafone Cloud. It enables customers to store on remote servers: images, music files and other content that can be accessed on smartphones. Storage is being offered to Vodafone subscribers in various increments at various prices, with the lowest option, 8 GB, available free of charge.

Subscriptions can be had on a daily or monthly basis. A daily subscription for a 64 GB site totals UAH 1.00 (US $0.03), and the monthly rate for it is UAH 30.00 (US $1.13). A daily subscription for 128 GB costs UAH 1.83 (US $0.07), while the monthly rate totals UAH 55.00 (US $2.07). For 512 GB, customers pay UAH 3.67 (US $0.14) per day or UAH 110.00 (US $4.15) per month. No internet traffic rate is charged when using the storage under paid tariffs.

Vodafone Cloud can be used on Android (4.4 and higher versions) and iOS (version 8 and higher) devices.

Cloud storage is one of the value-added non-traditional services that MNOs can offer their subscribers by way of increasing their appeal and relevance. Of course it is not one of the most innovative or distinctive, in that cloud storage is available from a wide range of providers of different types, including through one’s own smartphone manufacturer, if one is an iPhone user. On the other hand, obtaining storage space through one’s mobile service provider has the advantage of a certain comfort level, as well as that of uniform payment through one’s phone bill. The comfort has to do not only with brand loyalty but also with the confidence that one’s data will be safe because the operator depends on the ongoing loyalty of its subscribers.

Beyond that, Vodafone Ukraine’s offer is interesting in that it provides storage on a very short-term basis, with cost prorated. Users can buy storage at reasonable per-diem prices, which we imagine would be appealing to those who need to store content such as images and music files temporarily, to enjoy them without overburdening the storage space on their mobile devices or as a stopgap while they arrange a more permanent storage solution. While not many will likely want the storage for one day only, storage periods less than one month can be paid for as needed, rather than having to pay a monthly minimum. In this way, users will feel that they are getting better value and fairer treatment. This perception would tend to bolster loyalty and confidence in the operator and thus aid retention.

One thing to note is that there is no savings offered on the monthly prices, which are 30 times the daily price regardless of the level of usage. It seems to us that Vodafone would promote the service better by giving users some kind of discount for purchasing monthly cloud storage. On the other hand, it is a nice feature to spare the subscriber the internet-traffic costs of upload when moving data into Vodafone Cloud.

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.

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Vodafone Romania Starts Selling IoT Products for Businesses

Vodafone Romania has begun offering IoT products aimed at retail businesses in a variety of sectors. The portfolio of IoT smart products includes a wide range of dedicated products, including Vodafone Smart Counting, Vodafone Digital Media Signage & Smart Analytics, Vodafone Heat Map, Vodafone Stock Alert and Vodafone Queue Management.

According to the operator: Smart Counting provides merchants with information about customer traffic in their stores and also enables them to organize their work more efficiently. Digital Media Signage & Smart Analytics allows business owners to deploy digital promotions based on specific market-segmentation criteria. The Heat Map monitors the most frequented routes in a store using smart sensors, furnishing data which merchants can use to better understand customers’ needs and reduce wait times.

The Stock Alert platform offers merchants an improved inventory management system that increases customer satisfaction by making sure that goods remain stocked on shelves. When a shelf reaches a pre-set minimum amount of products, store staff receive an alert and can quickly prepare new products to complement the stock.

Staying ahead of the IoT curve is an excellent strategy for operators, we believe, and this initiative from Vodafone Romania seems to fit the bill admirably. While connectivity for IoT worldwide is going to be an increasingly large source of revenue, only by creating original products can operators expect to realize the full potential of the IoT space. Full participation goes beyond a mere update to the traditional “dumb pipe” role and into real product innovation.

International Vodafone’s IoT Barometer study found that 34 percent of businesses in the world use IoT, up from 29 percent in 2017, and 70 percent of businesses adopting IoT report that they have gone beyond the pilot phase. While there are many consumer applications of IoT (especially for home use) and a vast number of uses in heavy industry, the retail sector is a particularly lively sector—a meeting point for consumer and enterprise needs—and therefore a fertile field for operators. And as because mobile information technology is already intimately involved in tracking movements and monitoring data consumption, the types of IoT uses that retail businesses can benefit from are particularly appropriate areas for mobile operators to develop technology for.

If Vodafone Romania has correctly understood the specific needs of retail enterprises in that country, it should be able to generate significant revenue from selling its suite of products, not to mention the ensuing revenue from running the service. 

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.  If you have any questions about this article, feel free to contact our Editor-in-chief John Dorfman at jdorfman@tarifica.com

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