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  • Virgin Media Preps UK Mobile Broadband On T-Mobile Price Cut

    Virgin Media ( NSDQ: VMED ) will begin offering mobile broadband dongles in the UK in the final calendar quarter. Virgin is late to the UK's booming broadband dongle space but today's earnings reveal the offering comes after it struck an agreement with its MVNO backbone T-Mobile to reduce the wholesale rates it pays for voice and data, retroactive to January and April retrospectively. It will also lower mobile data tariffs accordingly. Virgin, which is also testing 100Mbps cable broadband in England, also committed today to introduce 50Mbps in the second half of the year. More earnings at PCUK … Related O2 UK Latest To Bring Out A Dongle Dongles Rack Up Big Broadband Data Hike For 3 UK Check out the best business jobs in digital media. Go here for paidContent.org Job Board.
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  • Blyk Hits 100,000 Customers

    Ad-funded free MVNO Blyk reports that it has 100,000 clients in Britain after being operational for six months—that's half a year ahead of schedule. Blyk said the ad campaigns "had generated average response rates of 29 percent, compared with the usual response rates in advertising of just a few percentage points" reports Reuters . The 29 percent figure was given in January, when Blyk denied allegations that its customers were turning off the message function to avoid receiving ads. Blyk plans to open in other European countries, starting with the Netherlands. I'm not sure 100K customers is a "mass audience", but Blyk targets the desirable 16-to-24 year old age group and touts the ability to engage with the people . Related Blyk Advertisers, Skeptical On Subscriber Numbers, Just 'Don't Get It' Blyk Gets New Funding Round, Expanding To Netherlands Blyk Claims Up To 43 Percent Click-Through On First Mobile Ads
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  • Juha Christensen Says Sonopia Is Not Shutting Down, But Is Waiting For Better Times For MVNOs

    Reports that Sonopia was shutting down spread like wildfire yesterday, but its founder Juha Christensen, said today it's not true. The company is still alive, but drastically scaling back its business and essentially hibernating until the U.S. MVNO market turns around. Sonopia has eliminated all of its U.S. employees from its Menlo Park, Calif. headquarters. Even Christensen holds the unpaid position of Chairman. In their development offices in Ukraine, they have 30 people or half as many as before. As they wait, Christensen is looking at expanding into Europe, where MVNOs have performed better but no decisions have been made. "U.S. consumers have not warmed up to MVNOs, there really hasn't been an MVNO that has shown the way and made a spectacular success out of it, and in Europe, you've seen MVNOs play a role in each of the main markets—sooner or later that will happen in the US," he said. At its core, Sonopia was an MVNO of MVNOs, meaning it allowed anyone to easily set up a cellphone business for a particular niche, brand or non-profit. That model would imply that tons would have to be successful in order for Sonopia to do well. Since launching a year ago, they have signed up thousands of services, everything from The National Wildlife Foundation and Audubon Mobile to more obscure things like Apple ( NSDQ: AAPL ) Fans, Yoga and Boxing. Christensen said while the company reorganizes, the customers will still be able to use their phones, but Sonopia is now using a third-party to obtain wholesale minutes, rather than having a direct-carrier relationship. Sonopia has raised about $20 million in venture capital, and Christensen said he's not looking for anymore. His take on the U.S. MVNO scene: He sees some success among the lower tier of the market, among players like Tracfone and Virgin Mobile ( NYSE: VM ), but it remains to be seen if it can move up the value chain. His opinion on Helio is that the business is likely not performing well—they...
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  • BT Mobile Phone Subscriber Numbers Hit All Time Low

    Subscriber numbers at BT's ( NYSE: BT ) mobile phone business have hit an all time low, calling into question the company's plans to use mobile services to help shore up revenues. The Timesonline.co.uk reports that BT currently has a mobile phone subscriber base of 86,000, less than half of its all time high of 187,000 in 2005, shortly after the company first began revealing figures for the mobile unit. Previous media reports have said the company is working on a new strategy which could involve a mobile device that would allow consumers to access emails and the internet. The Times adds that it may also involve BT's broadband offering, and customers may have to buy it and the mobile service together. CEO Ben Verwaayen has ruled out any purchase of a mobile company to boost the unit. The disappointing mobile service subscriber figures comes just weeks after BT quietly announced it would no longer be marketing its mobile-WiFI combination service BT Fusion to consumers in order to rework its mobile strategy. Three years after its launch, BT Fusion has only attracted 45,000 subscribers. The service allows consumers to make mobile calls off Wi-Fi connections at home and at BT hotspots around the country. It switches to Vodafone's network when neither of these two options is possible. The service is similar to T-Mobile HotSpot @Home service in the US. BT's struggles in the mobile space have been blamed on its lack of its own network (it piggybacks on Vodafone), and from other mobile phone companies luring customers from its traditional base of landline users. According to Ofcom, there are now just as many mobile-only households in Britain as there are fixed line-only ones.
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  • Disney Clearly Not Giving Up On Mobile; Launches Portal In U.K.

    With so much buzz going on this week, it was easy to overlook yet another mobile strategy being unveiled by Walt Disney ( NYSE: DIS ). It said it is launching a Disney-branded mobile portal in the UK, with plans to roll it out throughout Europe, according to telecoms.com . It wasn't that long ago that Disney shutdown both its Disney-and ESPN-branded MVNOs, and decided to try launching one in Japan targeting women. This time around, the Walt Disney Internet Group is trying out an ad-supported WAP portal in the UK, Mobile Entertainment . It's available by texting "Disney" to 83335 for a WAP link or by entering http://www.disney.co.uk into a WAP browser. Disney is also trying to get on operator decks. On the new portal, there are up to 60 Disney Arcade games many of which will be provided free of charge, including the title Pirates of the Caribbean. Users can also access content on movies, music, TV and community. Related Disney To Start Another MVNO, In Japan
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  • Ad-Funded Blyk Denies Users Are Shutting Off Ads

    Subscribers to UK ad-funded MVNO Blyk are allegedly turning off their phone's messaging function in order to avoid receiving ads, according to the Inquirer citing a tip from a "disgruntled customer". But Blyk's COO Leif Fagelstedt denied this was happening and said it was more likely a misunderstanding over how the MVNO's system works. To get full membership, subscribers must install the correct MMS/picture messaging settings on their phone, which the MVNO said is an easy process on 60 to 70 percent of the MMS capable devices that the Blyk network recognises (around 95 percent of all MMS handsets)—meaning that it's not so easy on the remaining 30-40 percent. Blyk says there are some 2,400 different handsets in the UK that are compatible with their network. Blyk launched nearly four months ago and says it has already run 400 different ad campaigns with a typical response rate of around 29 per cent. Mobile Entertainment reports that one campaign for Penguin books—in which users could download an audio chapter of Nick Hornby's novel Slam—had a click-through rate of 45 per cent. In November, Sales director Jonathan MacDonald told PCUK the ads users receive had click-through rates of between 12 and 43 percent, depending on the format (Blyk does SMS, text-and-picture MMS, photos, animations, video and a bespoke format). The MVNO also says it is "slightly ahead" of its internal goal of amassing 100,000 users within a year of its launch. It expects to have half of that number—50,000—by March, and reiterated that it was signing on 3,000 users a week. Related Mobile Content Bits: The Sun; Blyk; Five TV; 3 Music Blyk Claims Up To 43 Percent Click-Through On First Mobile Ads ">Blyk Pleads: Just Don't Call It Advertising; 'Will Attack O2 Prepay'
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  • Tiscali To Debut Mobile Phone Net In Quad-Play Drive

    Italian broadband provider Tiscali is planning to roll out a UK mobile phone service in the last three months of 2008, according to Telegraph.co.uk . It's currently in discussions with the UK's four largest mobile networks, seeking network carriage for the service which would be a SIM-only one - customers would provide their own handsets. Adding a mobile offering will allow Tiscali to provide customers like Virgin Media ( NSDQ: VMED ) and, soon, Orange with a "quad-play" bundled package that also includes telephone, broadband and TV. The service is being created from Tiscali's acquisition of the two-year old ToucanMobile, which came with its purchase of internet provider Pipex last year. ToucanMobile, which currently piggybacks on T-Mobile's network and has 7,000 customers will be rebranded under the Tiscali name. Virgin Media, meanwhile, hasn't had the easiest time winning over customers. Though the ethos behind the ntl/Virgin Mobile ( NYSE: VM ) merger was quad-play, Telegraph.co.uk estimates that, of its 4.4 million mobile phone customers, a little fewer than 150,000 have bought its combined mobile, landline, TV and broadband offering. Tiscali UK CEO Mary Turner, however, said Sky's "See, Speak, Surf" campaign has created interest in bundled products, and that consumers were ready for them. Indeed, Ofcom has found a growing preference among UK consumers to buy bundled communications packages, especially as providers offer discounts to customers who take more than one of its products at a time. Tiscali is currently the UK's fourth largest broadband provider. Related Deutsche Telekom Amongst Tiscali Contenders; Offloads Media Division; Closes In On Three: Reports Earnings: Tiscali H1 Revenues Up 24 Percent On Broadband Growth
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  • Dutch Operator KPN Finds Success In Germany With Cheap Calls, Not Content

    Dutch mobile operator KPN has found success in Germany with the cut-rate, no-frills, no subsidized handsets mobile plan it offers through Base, a brand it had imported from Belgium. Indeed, as Businessweek notes in its feature article on KPN, it's shaken up the Vodafone-T-Mobile "duopoly" in the country. While the two operators are duking it out trying to offer consumers more bells and whistles--witness their bitter battle over the iPhone--KPN has rapidly gained market share by appealing to customers who want a simple, straightforward, inexpensive voice plan. Base has boosted KPN's German venture, E-Plus, which has seen its subs rise16 percent, year-on-year, to 14.1 million. Moreover, its operating profit rose 79 percent during the quarter, to $193 million, while its profit margin of nearly 38 percent is just behind that of Vodafone ( NYSE: VOD ) in Germany. KPN, now hopes to crack the Spanish market with the Base brand and plans on launching there early next year . They have talked of expanding into France, though no concrete plans have been made. But Businessweek questions what will happen to KPN's voice-focused mobile plans as the mobile web and multimedia handsets become more commonplace. E-Plus does have an unlimited mobile Internet service that it sells for an extra $36 a month, but it has no web portal of its own that can compete with say Vodafone Live!. But KPN at least has time on its side. No content-rich mobile plan has been a hit on either side of the Atlantic. Witness the downfall of Disney's Mobile ESPN and its child-friendly service Disney ( NYSE: DIS ) Mobile. Both trumpeted exclusive content as a point of difference, but both struggled to gain subs and were eventually shut down (albeit very quickly). Three UK, the UK operator that has tried to position itself on its cutting edge content offerings, has also had difficulties luring subscribers, and were reduced to offering cheap voice calls instead. Related Germany's T-Mobile...
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  • Microsoft Sells Ads On US MSN Mobile; Virgin Mobile UK Plans More Ads In 2008

    Microsoft ( NSDQ: MSFT ) has begun serving ads on its US MSN Mobile page, moving into the mobile advertising business in the USA—it already sells mobile ads in Belgium, France, Spain, Japan and the UK. "The company will start with advertisements from Bank of America, Paramount Pictures and Jaguar" reports Reuters . This is part of MS's plan to offer advertising across a range of platforms—mobile, net, Xbox etc. It also plans to launch features such as astrology and movie ticket buying to its MSN Mobile page, according to Reuters. Over in the UK Virgin Mobile ( NYSE: VM ) MD Graeme Oxby has indicated the MVNO plans to increase its mobile advertising next year. The advertisements will probably be banner ads and link sponsorship, reports Mobile News International .
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  • Italian Post Office Seeks 2 Million MVNO Subscribers In 3 Years

    Massimo Sarmi, the CEO of the Italian Post Office (Poste Italiane) said that the company is aiming to have 2 million mobile phone subscribers and 500 million euros in revenue within three years, through its PosteMobile MVNO. PosteMobile will also let people use their mobile phones to transfer money, check the balance on their checking account or pay bills, reports Thomson Financial . Sarmi thinks the MVNO will be successful because they won't have to build a network and they already have a payment platform. Related Italian Post Office To Launch MVNO With Vodafone?
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