3G Pricing Promotions & Strategies

SUMMARY

In this report we present and analyse a range of promotional offers designed to attract consumer customers to 3G services. We look at 3G promotional initiatives across the contract and prepay segments focusing on transport services such as voice and video calls, multimedia messaging (photo and video messaging), access to wireless portals, e-mail and Internet access.

We highlight differences in the focus of 3G promotions across 18 European operators and examine the key pricing strategies adopted by these players, in detail. We identify those operators who have been most aggressive in their efforts to develop and grow the 3G market, rating all 18 operators in terms of their effectiveness in achieving:

• Customer Acquisition & Migration to 3G - initiatives that push 3G penetration (e.g. paired handset offers, free service trials, etc.)
• Stimulating New Service Usage & ARPU - promotions encouraging usage levels of new services
• Multimedia Pricing - innovative and simple pricing structures effective in extracting extra ARPU without appearing too expensive
• 3G Brand Differentiation - good persuasive promotions of the best offers (e.g. use of strong service brands and transparent communication rather than technical 3G labels)
• Full Scope 3G Service Offers - full range of services addressing multiple segments of the customer base

Case studies examining the respective market development approaches a new market entrant (3 Italy) and an incumbent GSM operator (Orange UK), are also presented.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• 1 Introduction
  • 1.1 The 3G Marketing Challenge
  • 1.2 Soft Vs. Hard Launch Approach
  • 1.3 Branding 3G Services
• 2 Pricing Strategies & Offers Across Different 3G Services
  • 2.1 Video Calling
    • 2.1.1 Video Calling Promotions in the Italian Market
  • 2.2 Messaging
  • 2.3 Wireless Portals Access
  • 2.4 Internet Access
    • 2.4.1 Vodafone Zuhause Web (3G Home Zone Service)
  • 3 3 Italy: New Market Entrant Promoting 3G Across the Base
    • 3.1.1 Service Offer & Promotions
    • 3.1.2 Stimulating Prepay ARPU Through Innovative Top-up Vouchers
  • 3.2 Successful ARPU Values
• 4 Orange UK: Promoting 3G Services to High-Value Contract Customers
  • 4.1 3G Introductory Offers
  • 4.2 Orange Market Positioning Vs New Market Entrant
• 5 Currency Conversions