 |
|
|
Orange Business Services Launches ‘WiFi-Enabled’ Unik for Professionals| January 30, 2007| Enterprise Mobility - Europe
| Competitive Update | Analyst: Mayur Sahni
Current Perspective: Positive/Neutral
On January 29th Orange Business Services launched ‘Unik for Professionals’ and positioned it as a new generation fixed and mobile telephony tailor-made solution. Targeted towards the SOHO and prosumer market, the Livebox Pro offers 24/7 unlimited calls to all national and international landlines (Europe, USA and Canada). In addition, with this move Orange has completed its range of Unik offerings (earlier Business LiveBox was a UMA variant) already available to residential and business customers. Analytical Summary • Current Perspective: Slightly positive on Orange Business Services’ launch of ‘Unik for Professionals’ as its first WiFi enabled FMC proposition with LiveBox Pro for professionals and SOHO customers because this is a better packaged offering (promotional pricing, compatible handsets) as compared to its earlier UMA version. However, with the limitation of three simultaneous calls and limited call management features with the LiveBox Pro, there is still a lot of work to be done before rolling out an enterprise level offering. • Vendor Importance: High to Orange Business Services, because the launch of ‘Unik for Professionals’ is a significant milestone within France Telecom’s FMC strategy and marks the inclusion of WiFi access capabilities on the LiveBox Pro. The new service is the first of its type in the French market and gives Orange Business Services the opportunity to leverage its network capabilities across fixed-voice, mobile services and broadband services to strongly position its new service. • Market Impact: Low on the enterprise mobility market in Europe in the short-term, as this solution is only available in France. However, Orange Business Services will certainly roll this out across its key markets where it has broadband access and mobile capabilities and simultaneously develop the existing LiveBox Pro offering into an enterprise ready version. Therefore, competition should keep a keen eye on Orange Business Services. Recommended Competitor Actions • Competitors of Orange Business Services should ask the customers to question the difference in service delivery capabilities (Business LiveBox and LiveBox Pro) and customer experience between the various Unik variants being rolled out by Orange Business Services. They should also point out that other than one based on UMA and the other on WiFi, there are minimal, if any, feature enhancements. • BT Global Services should point out that BT Corporate Fusion is a more complete and holistic enterprise grade offering with feature sets (including call management, hotspot access, application integration) which are beyond Unik’s current delivery capabilities. • Neuf Cegetel should position TWIN as a competing product to Orange Business Services’ LiveBox Pro terminal and point out that it has been in the FMC space since 2005. Neuf Cegetel should also point out that it offers unbundled subscribers the benefit to choose a package enabling unlimited calls to landlines in France and to 31 international destinations – something Orange Business Services is only recently offering. Additionally, TWIN customers can have an unlimited number of WiFi connections with any access point on the Neuf WiFi network and this does not require a separate subscription to access its global footprint of 32,000 hotspots – a key feature missing in ‘Unik for Professionals.’ Enterprise Mobility - Europe
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
|
|
OFFICES |
|
