BT REELING BACK THE YEAR
by Nicki Hayes, October 03, 2002
A year after flogging its mobile division, British Telecom (BT) has announced its return to the market with a ‘groundbreaking’ new service that enables customers to select their own call charge package online. BT believes this do-it-yourself billing scheme is enough of a differentiator to win market share. We’re not so sure…
BT this week announced the launch of its consumer mobile phone service, Mobile Sense, which, apparently, ‘fundamentally changes the relationship between customer and service provider - giving customers the power to completely control their own call plan using a simple website.’
The company says it has introduced the service after listening to customer comments that mobile phone costs were too complicated and inflexible. BT Retail chief executive officer Pierre Danon said the new product was an innovative way in which the company could add value in the consumer mobile market.
“Mobile Sense is not a mass-market offering but it does represent a practical and low-risk first step into the consumer mobile space," he said.
"I have said previously that we would not enter the consumer mobile sector unless we had something which brought a new dimension to this already competitive market.
"With this product, we have a unique proposition that gives our online customers complete control over what they are charged, even allowing them to change their pricing packages every month if necessary.”
Effectively the former state owned operator will operate as an MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) buying and reselling airtime from mmO2, its former subsidiary, which it spun-off last year. The service will be entirely marketed online with a table of pricing options on its website enabling customers to select the right package based on how many minutes they call landlines and other mobile phones, and the number of text messages they want to send. Customers will also be able to choose online from 12 of the latest handsets - including Nokia and Sony Ericsson - as part of the tailored package.
BT has ambitious revenue targets for the service, expecting it to generate the majority of the targeted STG44 million of consumer and other new mobility revenues by 2004/2005. While this is possible given the marketing value of its fixed line customer-base, of which it still has the lion’s share in the UK, network operators are hardly going to be shaking in their boots. Such an online do-it-yourself billing scheme isn’t rocket science and doesn’t seem to add a lot of value to other offline schemes, such as Orange’s ‘Plan’. Indeed, it could be quickly and easily replicated, though I doubt whether this will be on the top of any of the operators’ agendas as it’s simply not where the battle will be won.
No, while it’s good to know that BT has learnt it’s nice to listen as well as talk, if they listened harder they’d know that the real differentiators are cost and network availability. Still, any form of competition is good, especially when it aims to take customer service to a new level, and I’m sure you’ll agree that BT is welcome aboard (again).
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About the author:
Nicki Hayes is The Wireless Developer Network's (www.wirelessdevnet.com) European correspondent and the part-time judge part-time jester of its new online debate -
Holding Court. Nicki also takes on freelance writing and corporate communication projects relating to business to business internet and wireless issues and has
contributed editorial to a number of publications including Unstrung.com, Wireless Business & Technology, Guardian Online, Financial Times, Banking &
Financial Training, eAI Journal and Secure Computing.
About the WirelessDevNet (www.wirelessdevnet.com):
The Wireless Developer Network is an on-line community for information technology
professionals interested in mobile computing and communications. Our mission is to assist
developers, strategists, and managers in bridging the gap between today's desktop and
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We are interested in supporting the deployment of these evolving technologies through
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