Tele2 Russia Offers Free Apps for Customers Stuck Abroad

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.

Russian Mobile Users Rely on Messaging Apps for Voice

Russian mobile users find OTT messaging apps to be the most important function on their smartphones, and they are increasingly using these apps for voice services, according to a recent nationwide study of around 1,600 users over the age of 16. The most frequently downloaded messaging apps are WhatsApp (83 percent of respondents), Viber (61 percent), Skype (53 percent) and Telegram (40 percent)—the latter despite the fact that it is officially banned in Russia.

Mobile voice traffic in Russia has fallen for the first time since 2011, according to a recent statement from the Ministry of Communications. It was down 2.8 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2019, and the figure declined by 4 percent in the second quarter. Total traffic volume reached 219.1 billion minutes in the first half of this year, down from 228.2 billion minutes in the same period last year.

We have written on many occasions about the phenomenon of OTT players making significant, even game-changing, incursions into mobile operators’ traditional areas of service. At first apps such as WhatsApp were eroding SMS and MMS; then the messaging apps began offering voice, as well, and operators in various markets have seen some impact from that.

In Russia, the situation is particularly glaring, with voice traffic on mobile networks turning downward for the first time in eight years. The movement toward messenger apps was first noted in the Moscow area but is now widespread. There is a documented generational turn against the use of voice telephony, so that could be part of the reason, but the results of the survey do indicate that many users’ decision to use voice but not over cellular is also a major factor. Enthusiasm for these apps could be driven by various factors, but price in general, price plus ease of use with international calls, and social networking aspects are likely to be important considerations.

The trend is driving down voice revenue for operators, of course, although increased revenue from data is a compensating factor. If operators want to resign themselves to losing voice to OTT players, they can emphasize ways to promote more data use across the board, not just on OTT messenger services. On the other hand, they could try to resurrect voice by offering competitive deals and creative value-added features. It should be pointed out, though, that encryption and privacy are part of the motivation for the use of OTT apps, and what operators can offer in that regard are limited by Russian law. The ban on Telegram (which has been in force for over a year but has not had the effect of actually making the service inaccessible) was instituted because of issues relating to security and privacy

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 

Belgian MVNO Launches Data-Only Plan

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

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

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

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

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

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

 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. 

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WhatsApp Announces Fix for Spyware Vulnerability

Facebook-owned WhatsApp, the international OTT messaging and voice-calling platform, said on Monday that it had released a patch to fix a vulnerability in its system that could allow hackers to implant spyware in mobile phones remotely, just by placing a call to the phone, even if that call is missed. The move came after reports that such a security breach did occur.

The Financial Times identified the entity that caused the breach as NSO Group, an Israeli company that designs spyware. The newspaper stated that the targets of the attack included a London-based lawyer who is an adviser on a case that accuses NSO of providing the functionality to spy on a Saudi dissident, a citizen of Qatar and a group of Mexican journalists and activists.

It is not clear to what extent the remote implantation of the software allowed for actual access to private data, since WhatsApp released the patch very quickly. According to news reports, NSO denied the accusation and stated that it “would not or could not use its technology in its own right to target any person or organization, including this individual,” referring to the London lawyer, whose name has not been published in connection with this incident. NSO further said that its technology is licensed to governments “for the sole purpose of fighting crime and terror” and that NSO has no role in deciding how and against whom those governments use it.

In addition to fixing the vulnerability, WhatsApp said it urges users to update to the latest version of the app, “out of an abundance of caution.”

WhatsApp is used by some 1.5 billion people around the world, so the potential for harm is obviously very great if weaknesses such as this one occur, and even greater if they go undetected for longer periods than this one. WhatsApp has proudly advertised its end-to-end encryption, so it probably comes as a big surprise for most users that this attack was even possible. The nature of the vulnerability, according to reports, was the phenomenon of buffer overflow, in which excess data residing in a temporary storage location is overwritten to an adjacent memory address. The malware or spyware injects code that causes a buffer overflow, and then exploits the data that is moved out of the encrypted area.

We think mobile operators should be aggressively using this story in their marketing campaigns. WhatsApp has long been eating into their core businesses, first with text messages and now with VoIP calling and enhanced messaging to send video and documents. Now that a frightening vulnerability to invasions of privacy has been discovered, MNOs could benefit from reminding their customers and potential customers that cellular mobile telephony is still the safest option, and to beware of promises about encryption by OTT players.

Of course, the networks of mobile operators are by no means perfect; they, too, could be breached by sophisticated software. However, at the very least, the relatively local nature of a mobile network provides some assurance that global bad actors will not target them but instead go after an OTT that is more or less present everywhere. It is, of course, also important for MNOs to keep on top of network security, and they are well advised to do so and advertise that fact. An invidious comparison with WhatsApp, at least at the present moment, will likely be very effective in terms of public relations. Today, WhatsApp says it has fixed the breach; tomorrow, however, others may be discovered and exploited.

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.

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

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MTN South Africa Introduces “Smart” Feature Phone

MTN South Africa has launched the MTN Smart S device, a new feature phone manufactured by U.S.-based KaiOS Technologies. Priced at ZAR 249.00 (US $17.47), the phone supports popular apps such as WhatsApp, Facebook, YouTube, Google Maps and Google Assistant. It also has a web browser and is 3G-enabled. MTN is bundling Smart S with an allocation of 100 MB of data valid for 30 days for the first six months and 1 GB of WhatsApp bundles valid for 20 days for the first six months.

The device follows the recent launch of MTN Chat, which enables customers to top up airtime and data bundles via WhatsApp. MTN Smart S is available at selected MTN retail stores and major retail partners.

The Smart S device is a “smart feature phone,” a hybrid or intermediate device category that has appeal in developing and budget-oriented market sectors. Running on KaiOS, an open-source, Linux-based operating system, it is a white-label feature phone that is capable of accessing certain apps that require data, such as WhatsApp, Facebook and YouTube. The KaiOS company’s technology, which is also found in phones branded by Nokia and Alcatel, enables simple lightweight flip phones to perform tasks previously available only to smartphones, and at a very low price point. KaiOS is also behind the JioPhone, a similar white label device that is offered by Indian operator Reliance Jio.

By producing the Smart S device and self-branding it, MTN is making a savvy move. The device has the potential to bring the use of universally popular apps to a huge customer base that previously lacked access altogether. Furthermore, since such users are likely only familiar with feature phones, aside from the price issue, the Smart S will make it easier for them to make the transition to using data.

Ultimately, that is very likely to lead them to want fuller use of mobile data, with more better interface. That means that many Smart S users will eventually upgrade to true smartphones that cost more and use far more data, thus driving more revenue to the operator. In the meantime, by making this smart feature phone available, MTN will likely attract many new customers, sell more data and lay the groundwork for future profits by cultivating these new data consumers.

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.

 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 

TIM Becomes First Brazilian operator With Service Channel via WhatsApp

Mobile operator TIM Brasil is now interacting with its customers through WhatsApp, in the first instance of an operator in Brazil entering into a commercial contract to use WhatsApp Business. This service allows communication between companies and clients in an easy way that fits their daily habits.
 
The operator has been testing the new feature with a group of customers who now receive their invoices via WhatsApp and, from now on it will extend the initiative to other users and use the channel for communication with clients. The use of WhatsApp Business is part of TIM’s strategy to continuously improve its customer service. By 2020, the company predicts, over 80 percent of contacts with customers will be made in this way.
 
We have written on quite a few occasions about the challenges faced by MNOs from OTT players, and about the encroachment of said players upon the territory traditionally occupied by operators. And as have also chronicled, over time the most prevalent strategy among operators for confronting this challenge has come to be one of embracing, rather than opposing or restricting, services of this kind, of which WhatsApp is the most dominant in the market.
 
We find this move from TIM Brasil remarkable because it betokens a new level of accommodation to OTTs. While most of what we observe has to do with zero-rating or discounting data for WhatsApp or co-branding, TIM has gone to the next level, actually adopting WhatsApp’s interface to communicate with its own customers. It can be seen as an extension of co-branding, a “join-them-don’t beat-them” type of strategy, but it can also be seen as an acceptance of the reality that WhatsApp Business actually offers not only the most seamless way to communicate with clients, but also one that most closely fits the clients’ existing habits. As such, it may not hurt the operator’s brand in any way, but rather make subscribers feel more comfortable and make interactions faster and easier. Still, to see this is to be forced to acknowledge that WhatsApp has made itself indispensable on grounds that the MNOs formerly occupied exclusively.

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 Egypt Launches “Dragon” Bundles with Dedicated Data for Apps

Orange Egypt has introduced new data plans, called Dragon, that have dedicated data for popular apps and music-streaming services. The plans include 3,000 “dragonbytes” and 50 minutes for EGP 35.00 (US $1.98) per month or 7,000 dragonbytes and 150 minutes for EGP 70.00 (US $3.95).
 
Each so-called dragonbyte is worth 1 MB on Twitter, Snapchat, Ghannily, Soundcloud, Apple Music, TuneIn, Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp. For other sites or apps, one dragonbyte is worth 500 KB. For voice, five minutes from the bundle are charged for one minute of off-net calls. If customers renew a bundle before it expires, any unused minutes or data are carried over to the next period. Outside the bundle, calls cost EGP 0.14 (US $0.008) per minute, and data is EGP 1.00 (US $0.06) per 50 MB.
 
Orange Egypt has come up with an interesting variant on the concept of plan flexibility—or at least an innovative way of expressing it to subscribers. The “dragonbyte” is not a fixed quantity but a flexible unit that has one valuation for one category of usage and another (half as much) for the rest. Whether that will appeal to Orange customers, confuse them or make them feel manipulated is yet to be seen, but in the most favorable outcome, it will simply be a way to purchase services in a way that provides cost savings without fully committing users to consuming the designated content.
 
From Orange’s point of view, the Dragon plans allow popular apps and services to be promoted without zero-rating them. The operator can still derive direct revenue from WhatsApp, Facebook, etc., while also incentivizing its subscribers to use them and thereby increase their data spend.

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 

Cell C to Raise Price of WhatsApp Bundle

South African operator Cell C has announced that on 1 February it will increase the price of its WhatsApp bundle from ZAR 12.00 (US $0.97) to ZAR 15.00 (US $1.22), according to a report. The bundle provides access to the OTT messaging and voice service for 30 days and has a fair usage limit of 600 MB.
 
The operator introduced a WhatsApp bundle in October 2014 as a promotion. When that promotion ended in August 2015, the company launched a WhatsApp bundle that cost ZAR 5.00 (US $0.41) a month, with a fair usage limit of 1 GB. In May 2016, Cell C raised the price of its WhatsApp bundle from ZAR 5.00 to ZAR 7.50 (US $0.61) but increased the fair use limit to 1.2 GB. On 1 February 2017, the operator raised the price of its WhatsApp bundle from ZAR 7.50 to ZAR 12.00 per month; on 1 October 2017, it lowered its fair usage limit to 600 MB.
 
Zero-rating is one of the strategies mobile operators have employed to deal with the competitive challenge presented by OTT players like WhatsApp. By discounting data for the use of a free (or nearly so) messaging and voice service, MNOs have been able to recoup some of their lost business, as well as mitigating the harm done to their customer relations by essentially bringing the OTT apps under the aegis of their brands. Offering better deals on messaging data has also been a way for operators to gain a competitive edge against each other.
 
In the case of Cell C’s WhatsApp bundle, we see a trend of raising prices and falling included-data limits. First offered on a promotional basis, the bundle became long-term. What we can conclude from the changes in pricing and data allowance is that over the past several years, Cell C’s plan to incentivize customers to use more data on WhatsApp has been effective. Now, it is expected that having grown accustomed to doing so, that subscribers will now be willing to pay more for the packages; the February 2017 increase almost doubled the price, and the current hike, while less drastic, is still substantial.
 
Furthermore, after slightly increasing the included data, Cell C then cut it in half, to 600 MB per month, and is keeping it there in the present pricing change. In short, the operator evidently believes that subscribers will be willing to purchase the package even if the data amount is significantly smaller. Most likely, with more overages occurring as a result, the operator will be able to derive more revenue from WhatsApp use.

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 

Tajikistan Government Bans VoIP Calls

Tajikistan’s national telecommunications watchdog has annulled licenses for IP telephony services, according to a news report. Because of this action, mobile operators and ISPs have been forced to disconnect their voice applications. State institutions also plan to forbid calls over foreign messengers and VoIP applications.
 
The headquarters of the mobile operator Babilon-Mobile were closed by law enforcement officers on 15 December because the operator was providing IP telephony. After the operator disconnected those services, its headquarters were reopened. Mobile operators Tcell and Beeline Tajikistan had also provided the services previously.
 
The Tajikistan regulator said that it banned VoIP because of reduced tax income from calls. The agency also considers the activities of Skype, Viber, WhatsApp, WeChat and other messengers to be reducing state tax income, but the ban does not cover the messengers yet.
 
Mobile operators have long resented the incursion of OTT players, which took business away from their traditional voice telephony offerings, after having first taken a gigantic bite out of operators’ SMS and MMS revenue. In light of this history, it is particularly ironic that a government agency has struck a blow against VoIP—but not at all for the reasons that mobile operators would want it to be.
 
The Tajikistan government’s objection to VoIP is, apparently, simply that it is not taxable. And while it applies this criticism also to the non-MNO version—the popular international offerings of Skype, WhatsApp and others—it has chosen to target only those that originate with Tajikistan’s MNOs. Mobile operators’ VoIP offerings were for the most part created with the express purpose of undercutting the challenge from OTTs. Ironically, these are being shut down while the OTTs’ VoIP services are, for the time being at least, being allowed to continue operating.  

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 

FreedomPop Spain to Deactivate Its 3G Service

MVNO FreedomPop Spain has informed its customers that anyone who has not yet acquired a new SIM card, at a cost of €4.99 (US $5.96), to migrate to its new 4G/LTE service will be disconnected from its existing 3G service on 1 September. FreedomPop’s decision comes after it partnered with Spanish telecom group MásMóvil to offer its customers 4G services over the network of Yoigo, MásMóvil’s MNO brand. Users have the choice to port their numbers over to the new 4G platform via the new SIM, or to any other operator’s network.

FreedomPop, a U.S.-based MVNO, launched service in Spain a year ago, offering—for the first time in Spain—a free-of-charge plan that included 100 minutes of calls per month, 300 SMS, 200 MB of data and unlimited access to WhatsApp. The new basic plan is still free, but it no longer comes with data-free WhatsApp use or international roaming. The offerings of the company’s four other so-called premium plans start from 1.5 GB of data, 500 SMS and 200 minutes of calls for €4.99 (US $5.96) per month and range up to 10 GB of data and unlimited calls and SMS for €28.99 (US $34.63) per month.


This move on FreedomPop’s part represents a maturation process in Spain, a developed yet relatively budget-conscious European market that has seen an upsurge in MVNO entries. FreedomPop’s move to Spain in 2016 evidently came at an opportune time, and the MVNO itself has matured to the point where it was appropriate to make the transition to 4G/LTE.

The high-speed service is now the worldwide standard wherever mobile data is needed, and for even an aggressively budget-oriented MVNO to end 3G is a strong indication that the legacy service’s days are numbered in developed economies. And with the rise in popularity—and necessity—of data-hungry apps and services, customers have greater incentive than ever before to migrate to 4G.

So in doing a deal with Yoigo to get access to a 4G network, FreedomPop is offering higher quality while remaining true to its roots as a disruptive force in the marketplace by still offering free service. However, the difference now is that with the free basic plan, unlimited WhatsApp and international roaming are withdrawn, which leaves the customer who uses these services with the choice of either reducing data use or moving up to a paid plan. This is generally the end game with offerings of free services in any case, with operators hoping that customers who have become accustomed to using a certain level of services at low or no cost will become habituated to doing so and then after a while will be willing to pay for them. In addition, FreedomPop is making the reasonable assumption that its slate of non-free offerings with much larger amounts of data will be palatable to Spanish prepaid consumers at least in part because of the fact that they are being delivered over 4G/LTE. 

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 

Telefónica Launches Tuenti MVNO in Guatemala

Spain-based multinational operator Telefónica has announced the debut of its prepaid, youth-focused Tuenti MVNO in Guatemala, which it says will feature flexibility and transparency. The available voice-and-data bundles range from 1.5 GB of data and 75 minutes of calls for GTQ 50.00 (US $6.50) to 3 GB and 100 minutes for GTQ 75.00 (US $10.00) and 5 GB and 125 minutes for GTQ 100.00 (US $13.50). The plans also include unlimited access to WhatsApp, unlimited calls to other Tuenti subscribers and 25 minutes of VoIP calls through the Tuenti app.

Guatemala is the fifth Latin American market in which the Tuenti MVNO brand has been launched; first Mexico in 2014, then Argentina, Peru and Ecuador. The Mexican experiment did not go very well, and Telefónica discontinued Tuenti in that country, but that does not appear to be an indicator that this type of service is, generally speaking, a weak competitor. Most likely, the budget MVNO faced too much competition in Mexico, while in the other markets it is able to garner more market share.

As we have written in the past, the youth market is a fast-growing and potentially very lucrative one for mobile operators. Young people, while budget-minded by necessity, are strongly inclined to use large amounts of mobile data, and they are at an age when consumption habits and brand loyalties are being formed. Therefore, generous and low-priced offerings of data on a prepaid, low-commitment basis are the right way to get and keep these valuable customers.

Tuenti’s Guatemala service fits the bill in terms of price as well as data allowances—which, though not princely, they are adequately generous and appropriate for streaming entertainment content. The zero-rating of WhatsApp recognizes the fact that youth tend to rely heavily on OTT messaging.

While Tuenti does not offer specifically youth oriented entertainment content, it does offer calls to other Tuenti users, which is at least a nod to the particularly social nature of its target 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 

FreenetMobile Launches Entry-Level Smartphone Plans

FreenetMobile, part of German MVNO Freenet’s brand Klarmobil, launched three new entry-level smartphone plans starting at €3.95 (US $4.60) per month with a 24-month contract.

The FreeSmart 400 plan, which runs on Deutsche Telekom’s network, includes 400 MB of mobile data at speeds of up to 21 Mbps as well as 100 minutes, and costs €3.95 (US $4.60) with a contract or €5.95 (US $6.93) without a contract. FreeSmart 1000, on Vodafone’s network, includes 1 GB of mobile data at up to 21.6 Mbps as well as 100 minutes and 100 texts, and costs €5.95 (US $6.93) with a contract or €7.95 (US $9.26) without a contract, including a discount.

Finally, FreeSmart 2000, also on the Vodafone network, offers 2 GB of mobile data at speeds of up to 42.2 Mbps as well as 100 minutes and 100 texts, and costs €7.95 (US $9.26) with or €9.95 (US $11.60) without a contract, including a discount.

The connection charge is a one-off fee of €9.95 (US $11.60) under the 24-month contracts, or €19.95 (US $23.24) if the plans are taken out on a rolling monthly basis. Roaming is blocked for the first six weeks, and then activated automatically.


FreenetMobile, which runs on two different MNOs’ networks, is offering some boldly priced packages in an aggressive grab for German MVNO market share. The prices are about as low as they go, which should prove attractive to members of the heavily-courted youth demographic. And given the preference of young users for data over voice, the various plans all offer relatively large amounts of data and quite small amounts of included voice minutes. The rather meager texting offerings should pose little problem to customers, considering that most of them are likely to prefer messaging services, such as WhatsApp, that use data instead.

The operator is wise, also, to offer lowered rates if customers subscribe to 24-month contracts and higher data speed in the higher-end FreeSmart 2000 options. Since many of FreenetMobile's competitors publish much higher advertised speeds, the questions for users, though, will have to be whether the real-world data speeds are fast enough for their needs, which will certainly include data-hungry streaming services, and whether the coverage is good enough. If the answer is yes on both scores, FreenetMobile will doubtless be able to garner a sizable number of new budget-minded customers with its FreeSmart plans.

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