AT&T Mexico Offers Video Bundle for Top-Ups

AT&T Mexico has recently launched a new offer in which all prepaid customers who top up by at least MXN 100.00 (US $4.63) will receive a free 7 GB data bundle for streaming video content. The bundle is advertised as being for use on YouTube, but it can also be used to access other platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and HBO Go, albeit at 480p rather than HD quality. The promotion will run until 9 January 2020.

The U.S.-based operator added 668,000 Mexican prepaid customers from September 2018 to September 2019 to reach an overall customer base of 18.6 million, up 7.6 percent year on year.

Formed from the merger of operators Iusacell and Nextel under the aegis of the U.S. operator AT&T, AT&T Mexico has been in business for five years and during that time has come to control the majority of the country’s spectrum. The operator has achieved success in part by leveraging the close ties between Mexico and the U.S., offering customers on either side of the border advantageous deals on service and effectively unifying the two countries into one service area.

As Mexico is a developing market, there is strong support among customers for prepaid service, and AT&T has seen a significant uptake in that regard, with 668,000 new prepaid customers added over the past year, approximately. However, one issue with prepaid customers is that while they technically have the service, they may not be using it very much or even at all. Having the holders of AT&T SIMs not using those accounts is a problem that the operator seeks to remedy by incentivizing those subscribers to utilize the network.

Under the current offering, the incentive to spend at least MXN 100.00 is the gift of 7 GB of free data. That is a generous offer, in our view, especially given the fact that the amount of money in question is actually fairly modest. Promoting the data as being specifically for YouTube and then allowing it to be used for other streaming services is a clever approach, as it creates the feeling that the other uses are above and beyond expectations. Ordinarily, the lack of HD would be a distinct strike against this offering, but in context we do not think that it will be. These prepaid customers who make little use of their service are likely to be relatively undemanding in terms of image quality and will probably be thankful to have a free 7 GB of access to video streaming content.

If the offering proves persuasive, it should have the effect not only of stimulating spending on the part of the prepaid customer base but also of maximizing utilization of AT&T’s network, which is of course a desideratum for any mobile 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 

One-Third of Chileans Unaware of How Much Data They Consume

Around 32 percent of Chilean prepaid and postpaid subscribers have no idea how much data they consume every month, according to a report conducted by mobile operator WOM.

The actual usage figures are as follows: 36 percent of postpaid customers use between 2 GB and 5 GB per month, and young people aged 18–24 are the heaviest users. In terms of monthly spend, 26 percent of the 18–24 demographic spend between CLP 20,000.00 (US $30.00) and CLP 30,000.00 (US $45.00) per month on data, and 18 percent of them spend more than CLP 30,000.00. Around 44 percent of the data use in this age range is for streaming services such as Netflix or YouTube.

Findings such as this one from Chile are, we think, very instructive for mobile operators designing plans. We often assume that customers and potential customers make rational decisions about their purchase of services, weighing their consumption habits against various pricing options. However, in many cases they are doing nothing of the sort, since they actually do not know how much data they consume, or how that data is apportioned.

While consumer ignorance could work to the MNOs’ advantage under certain circumstances—for example, by causing some users to pay for more data than they really need—in general we believe that it is in operators’ interest for customers to be well informed about their usage. With operators taking pains to craft packages with multiple options and price levels aimed at various user profiles, subscribers need to have accurate knowledge about their use of data (as well as voice minutes and SMS, for that matter) in order to make good decisions about which plans are right for them.

Therefore, operators need to take action. First, they should be conducting customer surveys to assess the level of awareness about service consumption. Then, if they identify a problem—as in Chile and in many other markets—they should implement new practices to remedy the situation.

One possible solution is simply clearer and more transparent billing to make it obvious to subscribers exactly what their consumption was in a given period and how much they paid per service. Beyond that, operators could set up procedures so that users are regularly informed about their usage levels, via text message or otherwise through their devices, at regular intervals and not just when top-ups are about to run out. Another approach is a voluntary subscription check; the operator 3 Denmark is currently offering this option, which it decided to do after an independent survey found that 54 percent of Danes did not know their mobile consumption levels. Of the customers who have agreed to the check, about 25 percent have actually changed their mobile plans.

We believe that an informed customer really is the best customer, and any campaign to raise awareness levels about usage would be a win-win proposition. Otherwise, many of the intricacies of plan design could end up being wasted effort. 

 

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 

Free Telecom for Vodafone Portugal While 3 UK Asks Britons to Turn Phones Off

Vodafone Portugal is offering free communications on 24 and 25 December for its customers. They can choose one of two options: voice, SMS and MMS communications or free data for internet access. The offer is valid for the first 500,000 individual customers and must be activated by 21 December in the My Vodafone App, or by calling the number 1275. Meantime, 3 UK has launched a marketing campaign encouraging Britons to not use their phones at all on Christmas Day. The “Go Cold Turkey” campaign will run on social media, urging people to “properly enjoy the wonders of a delicious Christmas dinner, paper hats and watching TV repeats with loved ones,” the mobile operator said. A short film produced by the company—viewable on Three’s YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages—speaks of “a Britain afflicted with extreme device addiction” and shows the extremes to which people will go in order to use their smartphones, such as unplugging the Christmas lights to charge a phone.

 
 

Christmas has traditionally been a time for creative and generous promotions from mobile operators, who offer discounts and free services in celebration of the holiday. Such initiatives can increase customer satisfaction and loyalty and thereby boost retention—while costing the operators relatively little. This season, we were struck by the sharp contrast between two approaches by two operators in two different countries. While Vodafone Portugal takes the tried and true road of offering free communications—with a choice of either voice and text or data—3 UK is actually encouraging Britons—and not just its subscribers but all Britons—not to use telecom services at all during the holiday.

 

It certainly seems counter-intuitive and even self-destructive for a telecom operator to try and inhibit use of its core services, but arguably 3’s strange initiative could actually serve a similar purpose to that of the Portuguese promotion. By identifying “device addiction” as a social ill and making a token gesture toward fighting it, 3 UK will potentially accrue positive feelings from customers, which could have the effect of bolstering the company’s image and brand and thus helping with retention and even acquisition. And from a different angle, it is possible that taking a one- or two-day hiatus from mobile services could have the effect of increasing customers’ appetite for those services after the hiatus is over and end up driving up net consumption.

 

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 

Zain Offers 1 TB Data Sharing Plan

Saudi MNO Zain has launched its latest postpaid plan, called Xtra. It offers a monthly allowance of 1 TB of data along with a free Mi-Fi device and three free data SIMs, thereby allowing users to share the data allowance between a maximum of four devices at the same time. The plan also provides a monthly allowance of 2,400 all-net minutes, 300 international minutes, unlimited all-net SMS and 512 MB of roaming data. The monthly subscription fee for the plan is SAR 1,000.00 (US $261.77). Subscribers can also select a “diamond vanity number” (a phone number whose corresponding keypad letters spell out a word or name), said by the operator to be worth more than SAR 100,000.00 (US $26,177.50), free with the plan.

Saudi Arabia is ranked among the top countries in the world in terms of smartphone penetration, with a rate in excess of 70 percent. Combine the increasing adoption of smartphones with the demographics of the country (70 percent of the population is under 30), and it is not surprising that mobile data use is rising rapidly. One study found that the Twitter penetration among internet users in Saudi Arabia is the highest in the world (150 million tweets sent per month in 2013), and 73 percent of Saudi Twitter users access their accounts through mobile phones. The same study also reported that Saudis watched 90 million YouTube videos per day in 2013, an average of 7 per user per day. Zain itself reported that in 2013 its 4G network saw a 600 percent increase in data traffic and a 1,400 percent increase in active user rates compared to the same period in 2012.

The three Saudi operators have been offering 4G since 2011, Zain having been the first to launch commercial services. The operators have been structuring plans to derive more revenue from data use by targeting specific customer segments and needs. While this latest plan, Xtra, may not see mass adoption due to its price point, it may appeal to a small segment of high-end heavy users, to whom it does offer value. Zain’s next-tier plan offers 10 GB of data, 1,200 minutes and unlimited SMS for a monthly fee of SAR 400.00 (US $106.61), while rival Mobily offers a postpaid data-sharing plan with unlimited data (throttled at 10 GB per month), 3,000 on-net minutes and SMS and 1000 all-net minutes and SMS for SAR 399.00 (US $106.35). If Zain’s new plan is successful, it will be able to attract a limited yet potentially profitable pool of high-quality customers. Since it is unlikely that anybody will use 256 GB on each of four devices in a month, this large data allowance as well as the inclusion of the diamond vanity number are probably symbolic in nature, and confer a premier status on those who subscribe to this plan.

 

The above item appeared in a recent issue of The Tarifica Alert, a weekly resource that analyzes noteworthy developments in the telecoms industry from around the world. To access all of the latest articles and issues:  http://www.tarifica.com/TarificaAlert.aspx