O2 Germany Joins the Data Convergence Dots, with O2 Communication Center

On August 8th O3SIS unveiled its partnership with O2 Germany for the O2 Communication Center. The O2 Communication Center allows users to manage and maintain their e-mails and calendar online, schedule appointments, anniversaries and other important data, which is automatically pushed to the desktop and mobile phone as required. The solution also utilizes the user’s existing PIM such as Outlook, Outlook Express or Lotus Notes to sync data between the handset, Web and PC.

Recommended Competitive Responses

► Open standards mobile e-mail platforms, such as the O3SIS platform at the core of O2 Communication Center, are set to revolutionize the market for mobile e-mail, and all competitors should anticipate fiercely contested price competition at around the EUR 2.50-4 per month mark. RIM, Visto and others in the server-based middleware market should start compiling sales points in favour of their proprietary systems, outlining the advantages of ‘quality’ middleware versus SyncML versions.

► Vodafone Germany should now consider enhancing its MeinAddressbuch service beyond contact data management, and think about positioning its ‘data wipe and restore’ functionality as a form of ‘device management.’

► E-Plus should step up the marketing on its E-Mail Mobil service for prosumers and small businesses, as the mobile mail options of O2 Communicator come dangerously close to its own low-priced mobile-mail-on-any-device concept.

► T-Mobile Germany must now market T-Mail more pro-actively for prosumer and small business customers, and look to enhance it with desktop integration.

► All mobile operators now have to do a better job of market segmentation for mobile e-mail. As the options proliferate, mobile operators will be challenged to spell out the advantages and disadvantages of the various solutions on offer.

Recommended End User/Customer Responses

► O2 Germany’s business customers should start questioning their provider about the timeline on a business-targeted version of O2 Communication Center. End users should be assured that in terms of device management, the O3SIS platform driving the O2 Communication Center is capable of answering most key device management requirements.

► End users should be aware that O3SIS is the platform behind device management services from ‘specialists’ such as mFormation, InnoPath and Hewlett Packard. End users should base their purchasing decisions in terms of quality of ongoing support, training and assistance in set-up.

Telenet Launches Mobile Services in Belgium

On July 20th Telenet launched its Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) service under the name Telenet Mobile. Telenet Mobile represents a pioneering step in the company’s development of a fully fledged ‘quad play’ offer. A subscription to Telenet Mobile is free. Calling to all fixed lines costs EUR 0.15 per minute, to all mobiles EUR 0.20 per minute and text messages EUR 0.15 each.

Recommended Competitive Responses

► Proximus and Mobistar should consider reducing their per minute pre-paid rates to match Telenet’s pricing and hence mitigate the company’s price advantage. Proximus and Mobistar should then stress their wider services offers and content against the Telenet voice-only solution.

► Family plans and group discounts are proving popular in other markets. Rivals should consider similar tariffs to offset Telenet’s penetration into individual households with its existing cable and Internet offers.

► Rivals should consider stressing the mobility of their offers when compared to Telenet’s cable-based or ‘fixed’ approach to services. As future services such as VoIP enter the market, mobility becomes a unique point of differentiation for mobile operators, which they should exploit against the traditional cable or fixed players.

Recommended End User/Customer Responses

► Existing Telenet cable or Internet customer should consider adopting the company’s mobile service since these offer a lower price than rivals and come with no up front fees. However, customers should be aware that they are locking themselves into Telenet for a range of services and should ensure that all aspects of this package suit their needs.

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EU Flexes Roaming Regulation: Horse Trading Set to Continue

On July 12th the EU published proposed regulations to cap the high cost of using mobiles when travelling within the EU. The regulations seek to cap the wholesale charges that mobile phone operators charge each other for carrying calls from foreign networks. To ensure that the benefits of the new regulations reach consumers, the EU also proposes a price cap at retail level. Operators will be allowed to add to their wholesale cost a retail mark-up of up to 30%. Finally, mobile operators will be required to provide customers with full information on applicable roaming charges when subscriptions are taken out and to update consumers regularly about these charges. Provided that the regulations gain approval they could come into effect by summer 2007.

Recommended Competitive Responses

► Operators focused on their local market, including MVNOs should seek to capitalise on the influx of holidaying consumers and promote their own SIM cards offering a local service whilst abroad. Operators should seek agreements with hotels and resorts to include their SIM cards as part of the consumer welcome package on arrival.

► MVNOs should seek to sidestep the roaming issue by offering no-frills national tariffs plus partnerships with local operators abroad to give their customers local SIM cards when they travel. This should be promoted as offering consumers the best of both worlds – low prices at home and a partnership with a low cost operator in specific countries whilst travelling.

Recommended End User/Customer Responses

► End users should ensure that that are already taking advantage of the lower roaming packages on offer such as Vodafone’s Passport scheme. Whilst there is sometime to wait until the dust settles on the EU proposals, end users can make real savings now.

► Consumers should consider purchasing a local SIM card when on holiday to ensure that they can make low priced local calls. Consumers should also heed the EU advice on understanding roaming charges before they travel.

► Consumers should be aware that these regulatory moves by the EU only cover the market for voice services. SMS, MMS and data service remain outside of any proposed regulation, thus leaving consumers open to higher charges when travelling.

Vodafone UK Launches ‘Mobility Solutions for Business,’ Gets Aggressive in SME Space

On July 11th Vodafone UK unveiled its ‘Mobility Solutions for Business’ portfolio, developed by the operator in response to increasing competition for one-stop telecoms services from its SME customer base. The portfolio represents a mix of existing mobility, fixed and managed services, with simple account management and billing.

Recommended Competitive Responses

► Orange UK and BT should dismiss Vodafone’s capabilities as a fixed line telephony, DSL or IP VPN provider of any worth. The SME sector is looking for quality service and performance guarantees – and these are precisely the qualities a reseller, such as Vodafone UK, without its own network assets, is unable to properly control.

► Competitors should tout Vodafone UK will never be able to ‘integrate’ services and solutions over third party networks. Orange Business Solutions should argue that Vodafone UK’s SME portfolio will never be more than a collection of standalone products and services.

► T-Mobile UK is stuck between a rock and a hard place, fighting to retain competitive equity with a whole pack of newly integrated and converged service providers such as BT, Orange and now, Vodafone. T-Mobile UK should attempt to carve a niche for itself in the SOHO sector, potentially using its T-Mobile@Home service concept to special low-price effect. T-Mobile UK should also look to deploy Hosted Exchange to UK small businesses, in conjunction with its new Microsoft Direct Push service.

► BT should look to deploy its guard band spectrum to create a picocell GSM service for SMEs, and market this as a higher quality alternative to homezone services in competitors’ pipelines. BT should tout the poor performance of indoor cellular as a key reason why businesses should stay away from such products.

► All service provider competitors should seek to understand the importance of the growing SaaS movement in the enterprise space. Offering hosted IT services, along with ‘managed’ mobility services, is a key innovation area in the SME market.

Recommended End-User Actions

► End-users should understand that few, if any, of these solutions are integrated. Vodafone UK, for example, cannot offer a verifiable ‘campus roaming’ solution.

► End-users should seek to understand the service levels and guarantees Vodafone UK is able to provision over its non-mobile network services. This is particularly relevant with the Managed IP VPN product.

► End-users tempted by the entire fixed-mobile substitution sales argument (i.e., replace end-user fixed lines with a mobile subscription) should ask for a demonstration of the solution, to assess the quality of service in indoor environments. Mobile telephony is sometimes subject to poor performance within dense user volume, steel-reinforced buildings.