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European mobile firms join forces |
masseur
Joined: Jan 03, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: Sydney, London
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taken from this BBC article
Together, the four firms will dwarf Vodafone
Four of Europe's biggest mobile phone firms have unveiled an alliance, in an attempt to wrest back the initiative from market leader Vodafone.
Germany's T-Mobile, France's Orange, Spain's Telefonica and Italian TIM began talks on cooperation last year.
Now, they have unveiled a joint brand - FreeMove - and promise to roll out shared services this year.
With 230 million subscribers worldwide, FreeMove hopes to offer a seamless service across all its member networks.
In addition, the firms hope to benefit from economies of scale, especially in purchasing handsets.
Getting together
FreeMove will initially focus mainly on the European business market, which it says is worth 4bn euros (£2.7bn; $4.9bn).
But it eventually plans to roll out services across its members' entire networks, including in the Americas.
The group has struck a deal with Motorola and Siemens to provide handsets: it has already bought 6 million phones at an average cost saving of 10%.
FreeMove is the second such alliance in the European mobile market, dwarfing a venture between nine firms including Britain's MMO2, Swiss-based Sunrise and Norway's Telenor.
A number of mobile operators have also pooled their efforts to invest in expensive third-generation network technology.
The idea of alliances has caught on quickest in the airline industry, being a cheap way for primarily national companies to extend their global service.
In mobile telecoms, the increasing demand for international roaming services have driven providers to work together more closely.
Competition hots up
The main spur for FreeMove, however, is the increasing domination of Vodafone, which alone has more than 130 million subscribers.
Although all four firms in FreeMove are active internationally, none has pushed its brand so aggressively into overseas markets as the British firm.
By offering a single standard of service across as many as 21 European countries, FreeMove will be able to offer its customers a highly competitive product.
And the venture plans to apply joint bulk purchasing to one-quarter of its overall procurement, resulting in potentially significant savings.
But analysts are sceptical that relatively loose alliances can be made to gel in strategic terms.
During the 1990s, a string of telecoms and hi-tech firms set up partnerships, but few lasted beyond the downturn earlier this decade.
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Vlammetje
Joined: Mar 01, 2003
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From: Den Haag
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Hmm... I wonder how well they will do 
It could mean better roaming agreements and worldwide compatibility for things like MMS though  which would be a vast improvement over the current situation (MMS stored on website instead of being sent to phone abroad  )
Still... Vodafone has positioned itself remarkably well, they have excellent coverage in large parts of Europe and brand recognition is tremendous. Not an easy job to dethrone them
[edit] Although i would not mind Voda's prices going down... so bring on the competition!! 
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[ This Message was edited by: Vlammetje on 2004-03-30 08:06 ] |
gforce23
Joined: Aug 25, 2003
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From: Atlanta, London, Dubai
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Even with this alliance breathing down its neck, vodafone wont be knocked off its pedestal.
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masseur
Joined: Jan 03, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: Sydney, London
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I have to agree regarding vodafone pricing, they do need to bring down their prices and indeed I though they were told last year or the year before to do so by the communications watchdog people.
Their coverage around europe is excellent and I was impressed to be able to make a call at the top of the Jungfrau when I went up there on that train from Interlaken a couple of years back
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stewie
Joined: Nov 23, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: Croatia
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You were on top of a young woman? :-)
I hope Vodafone will come to Serbia one day,services of current providers are pathetic.
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gforce23
Joined: Aug 25, 2003
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From: Atlanta, London, Dubai
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Does Vodafone provide services in Switzerland?
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masseur
Joined: Jan 03, 2003
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From: Sydney, London
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yes, its called swisscom
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gforce23
Joined: Aug 25, 2003
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From: Atlanta, London, Dubai
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Did not know that swisscom is vodafone in disguise.
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Vlammetje
Joined: Mar 01, 2003
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From: Den Haag
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they've introduced VF Live! to Switzerland  I believe it was a massive hit with lots of sign ups in the first week.
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DaveIRL
Joined: Jan 16, 2004
Posts: 10
From: Cork
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The live sticker on the swisscom handsets is a bit of a giveaway. How long before they change the name of Swisscom. In Ireland it took about a year before Vodabla changed Eircell's purple to red! On the pricing thing though they are expensive and as has been mentioned somewhere in another thread they do not provide the customer support you would expect.
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DeLa
Joined: Jan 22, 2003
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* You can find information on www.freemovealliance.net
* In their overview of 'target's' there is no mention of 'lower roaming prices'.
* Reception in mountain areas is usually very good, except for undeveloped valleys.
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Vlammetje
Joined: Mar 01, 2003
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From: Den Haag
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reception in mountain areas can swing quite a bit dependent on your location in relation to the nearest cell and whether or not there is a mountain standing in between
you're right.... they intend to offer 'seamless' services including roaming and cross-network compatibilty... against 'transparent pricing' 
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grammo
Joined: Sep 24, 2003
Posts: 22
From: England
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I'm not sure whether this is a good thing (short term) or bad thing (long term).
To draw an analogy, you have a pond with one big fish and four smaller fish. Then a bigger fish comes along and swallows the smaller fishes, leaving two very big fish.
I fail to see how this is good economically ? How long before this new alliance suddenly pumps up their prices towards Vodafone's ? I can see that the equipment would obviously retail at a lower price, but we all know it's the residual income of service costs that these outfits enjoy so much.
I may be a cynic, I may not know what I'm talking about, but free enterprise for service providers is one thing.... two giants hogging the market is another. |
BobaFett
Joined: Jan 06, 2004
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From: Kamino (wish it would be Lund)
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In hungary vodafone is crap in support and services aswell. They have here tge cheapest prices after 18 oclock, the only reason i kept my voda sim. Look forward to have t mobile here in the near future.
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Posted: 2004-03-30 08:38
