Telefonica launches single pan-European mobile data tariff (Europe)
Telefónica banishes bill shock with the announcement of its first standard pan-European data roaming tariff – giving smartphone customers 25MB of high-speed Internet usage anywhere across the 27 European Union member states for just $2.54 a day.
Telefónica’s EU-wide tariff means mobile customers – on Movistar or O2 networks – will no longer have to worry about the cost of sending or receiving emails, updating their Facebook status or browsing the web on their smartphones when travelling or holidaying abroad.
For $2.54 a day, Telefónica is giving its smartphone customers travelling in the EU a data volume of 25 Megabytes – which translates to 250 visits to essential websites like Facebook, Twitter, Google or BBC Online and up to 500 emails.
Additionally, customers will only pay for days they choose to use data, and will not be charged should they wish to switch off their phone.
The Telefónica tariff weighs in at a fraction of new price caps announced by the European UnionFacebook, Twitter, Google – which ruled that as of 1 July, one data megabyte should cost no more than $0.9, or $22.25 for 25 MB. On a per megabyte basis, Telefónica’s European tariff works out considerably cheaper than the EU’s regulated rate.
José María Álvarez-Pallete, Chairman and CEO of Telefónica Europe, said that users no longer need to switch off their smartphones when travelling within the EU, and neither do they need to worry about bill shock when they get home. Further, their European data tariff gives smartphone customers great value while allowing them to do what really matters – to stay connected wherever they are in a simple and transparent way and with complete peace of mind.
Smartphone customers use on average around 6MB in a day, but any Telefónica customers exceeding 25 MB will be immediately notified. The Pan-European tariff launched in Germany in May and will be available this summer to O2 and Movistar customers in Spain, United Kingdom, Ireland, Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Mobile data accounts for 10% of worldwide internet usage
The share of web traffic in Asia that comes from mobile devices has almost tripled in the pat two years, according to a recent blog post by pingdom. In fact, in some countries, close to half of all web traffic comes from mobile devices. India is very close to mobile traffic breaking 50 percent of all web traffic, as are several other countries in Asia as well as Africa.
As per the post, the countries with the highest share of mobile traffic as part of total web traffic are India at 48.87 percent, Zamibia at 47.09 percent, Sudan at 44.95 percent, Uzbekistan at 42.36 percent, Nigeria at 40.65 percent, Zimbabwe at 37.95 percent, Laos at 35.46 percent, Brunei at 34.66 percent, Ethiopia at 31.79 percent and Kenya at 29.2 percent.
The data reveals that Africa and Asia split the list between them. Africa amassed six countries, which left Asia with four. The first European country is the United Kingdom with 10.71 percent, and the U.S. showed 8.61 percent mobile web traffic as share of all web traffic.
Europe scored a 183.43 percent increase in mobile browsing share over this period, not that far behind Asia. But with the mobile share only increasing from 1.81 percent to 5.13 percent, Europe is still far behind both Africa and Asia when it comes to the percentage of users accessing the web using mobiles.
Worldwide, mobiles only account for about 10 percent of web access, but it’s a figure that is growing fast. With some countries already closing in on 50 percent of web traffic coming from mobiles – with India in the lead – it’s safe to assume this development will only continue.
Clearly, people are taking to their mobile devices all over the world to get on the Internet, but more so in Africa and Asia than elsewhere.
PT’s 4G network coverage extends to 80% population (Portugal)
Portugal Telecom has strengthened the coverage of its 4G network, which allows about 80 percent of the Portuguese benefit from a new mobile Internet experience.
This became possible following the termination of television analogue terrestrial system, which took place on April 26, freeing the frequency band of 800 MHz, in which PT acquired rights to use frequencies in the following the auction multitrack. The increased coverage will be significant (up to now stood at 20%) highlighting the quality of buildings and places in PT among the first operators at European level to provide 4G services in the frequency of 800MHz.
With the extension of coverage of the 4G network, the TMN and Meo 4G. 4G will benefit from greater speed, lower latency and better quality of experience. Together with the fiber optic network of PT, which reaches 1.6 million homes, these features enhance the supply of new multimedia services, mobility, until now only possible through fiber optics, especially television, gaming services online and mobile broadband access with speeds up to 100 Mbps.
PT offers two offers – TMN 4G and 4G MEO – diverse aspects that favor the use of the Mobile Broadband service, leveraging the potential of other existing offerings, such as the Meo and Musicbox This Go way, customers can access TMN and Meo transversely to an offer converged voice, video and Internet on multiple devices, with a quality experience and superior service and the most advanced in the world.
The 4G network in PT was recently recognized by manufacturers as a reference for operators in Europe to present the first European network qualified by the GCF (Global Certification Forum), the mechanism CSFB (Circuit Switch Back Fall), which allows voice communication 4G networks. This support, required to provide voice service for 4G smartphones, reinforces the status of the operator in terms of quality, reliability and robustness of its network of cutting edge technology.
Orange Tunisia chooses Volubill for new ‘Happy Hour’ feature (Tunisia)
Volubill, a leading supplier of policy management solutions to service providers around the world, announced that customer and prominent African service provider Orange Tunisia will be discussing the importance of its real-time charging capabilities in offering customers unique and differentiating services, at the upcoming second annual Policy Control & Real-Time Conference.
Orange Tunisia will be speaking on Volubill’s behalf about the ‘Happy Hour’ feature, which allows for high-quality service coupled with mitigated data charges to customers between certain hours of the day. The conference is being held April 24th and 25th at the Krasnapolsky Hotel in Amsterdam.
The presentation, entitled “Assessing the challenges of data capacity management,” will take place on day two of the conference and will be delivered by Orange Tunisia’s Senior Manager of Data Charging, Afef Belhadj. It will detail how Volubill’s solutions are being used within the Orange Tunisia architecture, the advent of the Happy Hour policy, and the service provider’s rapid gain in customer base since its commercial launch in May of 2010.
In order to implement the policy successfully, Orange Tunisia needed software that would be able to manage both customer differentiation and bandwidth capacity constraints. Volubill’s solution capabilities, such as off-peak charging capabilities and quota management, have become essential in enabling these types of time-based policies.
The Happy Hour feature is just one of many sophisticated and innovative charging packages that makes Orange Tunisia such a successful service provider in terms of subscriber gains and retention, said John Aalbers, CEO, Volubill. He added that they are proud to have them as one of their customers, as they consistently use their solutions in order to provide their subscribers with a quality of service unmatched by many of their competitors. Doing so, however, means they are confronted with many hurdles, both from a technical and policy standpoint.
China Mobile to launch 4G service on 25 April (Hong Kong)
Telecom operator China Mobile Ltd., is looking to roll out its 4G services in Hong Kong by the end of this month.
According to reports, Sean Lee, chief executive officer of China Mobile Hong Kong Co., said, a total of 10 4G phones will become available for customers this year. Moile operator Telstra (CSL) is already offering the advanced fourth- generation services since its launch in 2010.
China Mobile claims that the high-speed service, based on LTE technology, offers maximum download speeds of 100 megabits a second, or as much as 50 times quicker than 3G.
The 4G/LTE service lets users stream high defination videos and download games at much faster speeds, thereby catering to their needs of more mobile data and improving customer experience.
Orange to launch new roaming app next month (France)
Mobile operator Orange France is looking to launch the Orange Travel App that will allow owners of Android, iOS and BlackBerry devices to track their data usage and SMS details in real-time, as per a report by Mobile Magazine. They can then compare this within the app to their local tariff plans to ensure they have not exceeded their allowances. The app was launched in France last year and has already attracted more than 15,000 downloads.
The report reveals that the app was initially looking at a summer launch but with might be released as early as next month. The roaming bundle will offer daily, weekly or monthly tariffs incorporating voice, SMS and data. For example, customers travelling in France will be able to buy a bundle that includes 10 minutes of voice, 10 SMSes and 10MB of data for around $6.5 per day from June onwards
When the services were first launched outside of the UK, Orange said it was to counteract the risks of high roaming charges. Orange executive VP for consumer mobile services Vincent Brunet said that by putting in further safety nets, they are helping customers to manage their consumption while they continue to introduce competitive offers that respond to their customers growing needs.
As per the report, Orange also plans to roll out a ‘rest of world’ alert and cap for customers travelling outside of the European Union. As customers approach their data limit, they will receive an SMS alert and can then choose to purchase more data or be cut off when the limit is reached.
Airtel Ghana offers rebate on data bundles (Ghana)
Mobile operator Airtel Ghana has introduced 50 percent bonus on all prepaid data bundle rates between 12 midnight and 5 am on its network. Airtel, which has the lowest pay-as-you-go rates in the country, is hopeful that the reduced rates will drive data usage on its network, as reported by Business Ghana.
Oare Ojeikere, Marketing Director at Airtel Ghana explains that the offer, adding to Airtel Ghana’s already low rates, is meant to encourage current customers to do more with Airtel’s internet and to encourage new users on the network. Ojeikere adds that what they want to offer their heavy users and young people in schools engaged in research is to get more for less on other 3.75G network.
Ojeikere added that the reduced rates would be especially beneficial to young people and students who often want to download large music and video files. What they have noticed is that a lot of their student and young customers have quite a large plethora of music files and videos that they follow and download and we know that by offering them half price on browsing, we will be making life a bit easier on their pockets.
Head of Corporate Communications and External Affairs at Airtel Ghana, Donald Gwira said with the increasing popularity of social media especially among the youth, the 50 percent discount would come in handy to the large segment of young people on our network and those who use data as part of their everyday life. With the introduction of Ghana’s first 3.75G internet network two months ago, Gwira said Airtel is positioned to offer the fastest and most affordable rates to enrich the lives of customers. Customers can subscribe by simply dialing *125# to experience life in real time with Airtel’s amazing and affordable Internet services.
