Wireless Federation

O2 UK to delay launch of Sony Ericsson Xperia Play

On 03.29.11, In Mobile, By Editor

O2 UK has delayed the launch of Sony Ericsson’s Xperia Play handset after discovering software issues. Stuart Hibberd, head of O2′s testing team, revealed the delay in a blog on the operator’s website.

This means that Sony’s most awaited handset will not launch on O2 until after its planned 1 April launch date.

As per Hibberd, O2 UK discovered “bugs and issues” on the Xperia Play. They have been working with Sony Ericsson to get these bugs ironed out, but haven’t been able to get them fixed in time for us to be able to launch the phone on 1 April as we originally planned. The operator, which has the exclusive on the white version of the Play, it will work with Sony Ericsson to get the problem fixed in the coming weeks. It will update consumers on the new launch date via the O2 UK website.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: head of O2 • O2 • O2 UK • operator • Sony Ericsson • Sony Ericsson Xperia Play • Stuart Hibberd • UK • Xperia Play

O2 UK begins 3G in 900MHz band

On 03.18.11, In Mobile, By Editor

O2 UK has started UMTS services in the 900MHz band in London. UK regulator Ofcom had approved the move in January, and O2 claims to be the first operator in the UK to offer 3G in the band previously reserved for GSM.

The new 3G900 network layer in London is expected to deliver a 50% increase in capacity to O2′s existing 3G network. The 3G900 services are also deployed in key cities across the UK, including Leeds, Birmingham and Manchester, with other cities set to follow in the coming months.

According to O2, customers on 3G900 compatible devices are now receiving data 30% faster than before the new spectrum was allocated for 3G use.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: 3G • 3G900 • 900MHz band • Birmingham • GSM • Leeds • London • Manchester • O2 • O2 UK • Ofcom • operator • UK

O2 UK overhauls Approved Partner programme for 2011

On 03.15.11, In Mobile, By Editor

O2 UK has overhauled its Approved Partner Programme in 2011 to offer new and improved benefits for partners.

A total of 75 stockiest Approved Partners have signed up for the enhanced programme, agreeing to continue committing 80% of their business to O2 UK.

News benefits for partners include a quarterly stockiest incentive to help drive increased O2 UK business and specific support and funding for Blackberry.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: 75 stockiest • Approved Partner programme • Approved Partners • Blackberry • Mobile • O2 UK

O2 UK inks M2M contract with G4S Utility Services

On 03.10.11, In Mobile, By Editor

O2 UK has announced that it is entering into the smart metering market by signing a multi-million pound contract with UK smart meter operations service provider G4S Utility Services.

Under the 3-year contract, O2 UK will provide M2M technology, including around 200,000 SIM cards to connect smart meters across the UK to the G4S data centre.

G4S will use the operator’s SMS gateway to securely relay information from its smart meters to its data centre and back again. Outbound messaging will allow G4S to monitor the working order of its smart meters remotely, reducing the cost of maintenance and servicing as well as carbon emissions associated with travel. O2 UK will also provide connectivity to run the annual testing of its disaster recovery process.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: G4S Utility Services • M2M technology • Mobile • O2 • O2 UK • Outbound messaging • Service Provider • SIM Cards • smart meter operations • SMS • SMS gateway • UK

O2 UK introduces Auto Top-up service

On 02.28.11, In Mobile, By Editor

O2 UK has launched a new Auto Top-up service for Pay & Go customers.

Customers can either set their phone to top-up at a regular time, such as every month after payday, or can set it to Top-up when they hit a low balance.

The service can be acquired online, with customer’s cable to change or cancel Top-ups anytime. To celebrate the launch, O2 is running a competition on Twitter where customers could win either a HTC Smart or a Samsung Monte.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: Auto Top-up service • HTC Smart • Mobile • O2 • O2 UK • Pay & Go customers • Samsung Monte • Top-Up • twitter • UK

Apple and Google increases Growth in the Mobile Advertising Market

On 10.29.10, In Mobile, By Editor

The mobile phones have made the advertising market see new heights. According to the latest research from Informa Telecoms & Media, global revenues from mobile advertising will be worth US$3.5 billion by the end of this year. The mobile advertising market has seen strong growth over the past 12 months driven by the initiatives and investments of big players including Apple and Google and is expected to show strong growth over the next five years and generate revenues of around US$24 billion in 2015. Informa Telecoms & Media believes that during this period, the share of mobile advertising revenues for the operators will fall from around 26% in 2010 to estimated 20% in 2015.

There is currently an increasing number of successful mobile advertising campaigns and a lot of market activity including in-house innovation, partnerships, mergers and acquisitions. Media and FMCG brands are also experiencing growing consumer engagement on mobile. These developments are starting to provide the much-needed momentum that the mobile advertising industry needs, which will lead to accelerated growth in mobile advertising in 2011 and beyond.

Acording to Shailendra Pandey, senior analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media and author of the recent Mobile Advertising research, the launch of Apple’s iPad advertising platform is forcing rivals to speed up their own mobile advertising strategies. Google has responded by acquiring AdMob and has announced it is on track to generate US$1 billion in revenues from mobile in 2010, a significant portion of which will be mobile advertising revenues. Google has also reported a 500% growth in mobile search queries between 2008 and 2010. The mobile advertising industry has moved ahead from the trial and experimental phase and many brands are now spending significant sums on mobile campaigns on a regular basis. The investments from big players such as Google and Apple validate the market opportunity, resulting in brands and agencies more actively considering mobile for their campaigns.

This year itself, many mobile operators, including Orange, O2 UK, Movistar Spain, VimpelCom Russia, Maxis Malaysia and Claro Argentina, have launched services and trials to encourage their subscribers to opt in to mobile advertising and receive reward points in exchange for viewing ads on their mobile phones. It is becoming quite clear to the operators that close partnerships with other value chain players is essential and is a better strategy than attempting to build an in-house mobile advertising solution and their own creative and sales teams.

Informa Telecoms & Media believes the mobile advertising market will go through a sustained period of consolidation over the next 12-18 months. The big value chain players have been on the acquisition trail for companies that will integrate seamlessly with their own platforms to ensure they have that end-to-end mobile ad-serving capability.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: Apple • Argentina • Claro Argentina • FMCG • Google • Informa Telecoms & Media • iPad • Malaysia • Maxis Malaysia • Media • Mobile • Mobile Advertising Market • Movistar Spain • O2 UK • Orange • Russia • Spain • VimpelCom Russia

Head of O2 Ireland to resign next month

On 10.19.10, In Mobile, By Editor

Danuta Gray, the head of O2 Ireland is to resign next month, after nine years in charge of the company. She will be replaced by O2 UK’s consumer sales director, Stephen Shurrock with effect from December 1^st. In the past nine years, O2 Ireland has significantly increased its customer base and become the second largest network in the country.

Ms Gray will also be leaving the Telef³nica Europe board at the end of November. However, she will remain as part-time non-executive chairman of Telef³nica O2 Ireland, and take on an advisory role within Telef³nica Europe.

According to Chief executive of Telef³nica Europe, Matthew Key, the outgoing chief executive had successfully led the Irish business from the outset, and praised her leadership skills. This is a great opportunity for Stephen Shurrock and he is delighted that the company has been able to promote from within the group. Stephen’s appointment underlines the commitment to Ireland and the ongoing success of our business.

Mr Shurrock joined O2 in 2000 and has held a number of senior sales and finance roles, including head of commercial finance for Telef³nica O2 UK. As head of the consumer sales division, he managed a team of 4,000, and has presided over a significant improvement in the performance of Telef³nica O2 UK’s direct business and the online channel.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: Danuta Gray • Europe • Ireland • Matthew Key • Mobile • O2 Ireland • O2 UK • Stephen Shurrock • Telefonica

O2 UK gets regulator’s permission for LTE trial

On 05.21.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: A trial has been awarded to O2 UK, the UK’s largest mobile network operator by subscribers by the by the country’s telecoms regulator Ofcom for Long Term Evolution (LTE) services in the 800MHz band.

As per Light Reading, the cellco is already trialing the technology in the 2.6GHz band using radio access and core equipment from Chinese vendor Huawei as part of a wider LTE trial being conducted by parent company Telefonica.

Huawei-provided equipment for the 800MHz trials will again be utilized by O2 which it will conduct in Carlisle in the third quarter of 2010. According to the telco, it expects to be the first to test LTE in the digital dividend spectrum, and one of the core aims of the pilot is believed to be the assessment of potential interference between mobile LTE services and existing broadcast services.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: Europe • Huawei • Mobile • O2 UK • Ofcom • operator • Telefonica • UK

O2 UK ranks top in mobile web speed in London

On 02.22.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: O2 UK has been ranked as the fastest provider for mobile web pages in London in a survey of the UK mobile network mobile data download speeds.

In January 2010, O2 offered the fastest average web page access experience in London at 1.7 seconds, over 30% quicker than the slowest operator. Even for misc download, O2 emerged the winner by providing the fastest music download rate in 12 out of 20 UK key cities and was second place in a further four more.

Tests were conducted between 10am and 10pm Monday to Sunday in London, Bristol, Edinburgh, Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle and Sheffield.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: Bristol • download speeds • Edinburgh • Europe • Leeds • Liverpool • London • Newcastle • O2 • O2 UK • operator • Sheffield • UK

O2 UK raises sales outlook, sees lower margin

On 11.13.06, In Mobile, By Editor

O2 UK has increased its outlook for full-year services sales growth to 14-15 percent after reporting strong growth in the third quarter. The mobile operator added 524,000 new customers in the quarter for a total 17.338 million at the end of September. That excludes the wholesale customer base at Tesco Mobile. Net additions included 316,000 prepaid users and 208,000 postpaid customers. Revenues for the eight months to September rose 15 percent from a year earlier to GBP 2.785 billion, and OIBDA increased 27.6 percent to GBP 837 million. The higher sales growth and tough competition on the UK market is expected to impact the operator’s OIBDA margin, which is now forecast down 1 percentage point in the 11 months to end-2006 versus the year-earlier period.O2′ s average revenue per user for the third quarter, on a 12-month rolling contract basis, was GBP 515 for postpaid customers, down from GBP 517 in the second quarter but up from GBP 513 a year earlier. Prepaid ARPU on the same basis rose to GBP 142 from GBP 140 in the second quarter and GBP 135 a year earlier. Subscriber acquisition costs were stable on a blended basis across the customer base, while minutes of use increased thanks in part to promotions such as free wekeend calls. O2 invested GBP 350 million over the eight-month period in capital equipment and network improvements.

Source- telecompaper Wireless Mobile Telecom

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: O2 UK • Tesco Mobile