easyMobile Launch
| Today easyMobile launched in the UK. easyMobile is a joint venture between 4 companies. The first two are TDC and Telmore, TDC being the incumbent operator from the Danish mobile market that bought up the very successful MVNO Telmore from Frank Rasmussen just over 1 year ago. Frank Rasmussen is today CEO of easyMobile. The other partners are T-Mobile that will host easyMobile on their network and of course Stellios from easyGroup, who has licensed his brand out to this new MVNO on the UK mobile market. We could use this special newsletter to tell you more about how Telmore has completely changed the face of the Danish mobile market, but our comprehensive report “The Moment of Truth – A portrait of the Discount MVNO / Mobile Operators’ success” covers all that in detail. We believe that the launch of easyMobile in the UK will be a repeat of exactly what we have experienced in e.g. Denmark over the past 4 years. easyMobile’s CEO Frank Rasmussen will act in way that has not been seen before in the UK. The phrase “Guerrilla Marketing” will be an important element in how Frank Rasmussen and easyMobile will profile themselves. Indeed, Orange has already created press for easyMobile by suing for them using the colour orange in the mobile world even before easyMobile launched! Together with Virgin Mobile, easyMobile will not just help maintain T-Mobile’s position on the UK market, but greatly expand it. One of the biggest players in easyMobile’s strategy will be the press. The competitors on the market will wonder how such a small creative market player like Frank Rasmussen will time and time again check mate them with the sole objective of giving customers the impression that easyMobile exists only to best serve customer needs – while all other players are mostly only interested in their shareholders! The main message that easyMobile will try to convey is that they are the mobile sectors answer to Robin Hood! Let us take a brief look at Telmore’s results in Denmark: Orange Denmark’s marketing and media budget was 19 times higher than Telmore’s over the past 4 years. With 1400 employees, Orange acquired a 13% market share over 7 years. Telmore has 67 employees and got an 11% market share in just 3 years. Telmore’s customers are twice as loyal as Orange’s. Orange has given up on Denmark – and left the country after gigantic losses. To put it simply, the team that is now heading up easyMobile has with just a few simple means conquered Orange and sent them right out of the Danish market in just 4 years. Whether anything similar will happen in the UK is difficult to predict – but we have little doubt that the combination of T-Mobile, easyMobile and Virgin Mobile will change the UK market and make times more difficult for especially Orange and 02. Vodafone have their focus on the business market and will primarily feel the effects from easyMobile in the form of falling prepaid prices. 3 will most likely feel the effects in the form of increasing sales and acquisition costs. We believe the following will happen on the UK market over the next 9 months:Increasing focus on prices pr. minute and SMS – Brits will become much more price sensitive mobile consumers. Unlocking the SIM lock will become a national pastime. The best prepaid customers will switch to web based MVNOs – like easyMobile. Virgin Mobile will launch a copy of easyMobile – this will strengthen the position of both companies.A number of the UK operators will start a veritable PR war directed at easyMobile. Subsidising prepaid phones will decrease and disappear. The operators will turn their focus to their high ARPU customers and offer them good deals, they will offer medium deals to medium customers and no deals to bad customers. If you would like to read more about the web based discount MVNO’s – please follow these links: |
| Are you prepared to loose many of your prepaid customers The Mobile Battle of Britain MVNO’s will turn the UK mobile market upside down: easyMobile – The inside story: Our view on easyMobile Buy your own “off-the-shelf” discount MVNO package Lessons learned from the airline industry: |
