Vodafone Cuts European data roaming fees
Vodafone has introduced a flat-rate data fee for its smartphone customers roaming in Europe, offering new daily and monthly rates.
Those customers, who travel occasionally, can take a domestic data plan abroad for US$2.64 per day, which represents a cost reduction of up to 60% over existing plans and includes an increase to the data allowance. Alternatively, frequent travelers can select to take a price plan which includes data roaming within their monthly domestic package.
According to Vittorio Colao, Chief Executive Officer of Vodafone, this is the year of the smartphone and the company wants their 35 million European data users to feel free to use their devices in Europe in the same way as they do at home. They expect smartphone sales in Europe to grow from 32% today to more than 70% by 2013, and they want to drive that growth with what they believe to be the best value, market-leading roaming data packages.
The new plans are being launched in Vodafone’s major European markets during November and December 2010, in time for the winter holiday season, and across the Company’s entire European footprint by summer, next year.
All consumers on the daily offer will be able to access domestic price plans in Vodafone’s European countries plus France, Switzerland, Belgium and Austria. Business monthly customers will be able to include data roaming across the whole of Europe within their domestic monthly package and consumer monthly customers can use the new price plans in Vodafone countries as well as France, Switzerland, Belgium and Austria.
Vodafone’s European countries include: Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Spain, UK.
Asiacell Launches International Airtime Transfer Service in Partnership with TransferTo
Asiacell – the first and largest Iraqi telecommunication company and the only mobile telecom company providing coverage for all of Iraq – and TransferTo, a leading provider of international airtime remittance services, announced the launch of Asiacell’s International Airtime Transfer service.
With this new service, Asiacell and TransferTo will enable Iraqis living abroad to send small value transfers to their relatives and friends in Iraq in the form of prepaid top-ups. Low in cost, high in value, international prepaid mobile top-ups are the ideal complement to money remittances.
Whether residing in the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, France, Spain, the USA, Qatar, Kuwait or any other country that is part of TransferTo network, any Iraqi will be able to recharge an Asiacell prepaid phone of their choice in Iraq. TransferTo prepaid airtime transfers are performed in real-time, and are convenient and readily available through a number of multiple channels including POS-to-Phone, Phone-to-Phone, and Web-to-Phone.
Cross border top-ups offered by Asiacell will allow transfers in the following amounts: IQD 5.000, IQD 10.000, IQD 25.000, and IQD 100.000. Available at www.transferto.com with payments possible in over 250.000 POS across Europe, Australia and Canada, the service will also be offered in other regions such as the USA and a number of Gulf countries including Kuwait, KSA, Qatar and the UAE amongst others. Transfers are completed through TransferTo’s distribution partners including POS retailers and partner Mobile Network Operators that offer Phone-to-Phone airtime transfer services.
Eric Barbier, TransferTo CEO, said: “I am convinced that Iraqis living abroad will find great value in this service, enabling them to make instant gifts to their loved ones in Iraq. Asiacell is a major addition to the network of partner Mobile Network Operators that have joined the TransferTo Global Airtime Remittance Hub.”
“As the operator with the largest domestic coverage in Iraq, we are yet again confirming our commitment to offer products and services that meet the needs of our Iraqi subscribers wherever they are,” said Mr. Goran Mahmood, Wholesale and Roaming Manager at Asiacell. “We hope to bring Iraqis living abroad closer to their relatives living in Iraq,” Mr. Goran added.
About Asiacell
Asiacell, the first mobile telecommunications company in Iraq, was established in the city of Sulaimaniya in 1999 by the well-known entrepreneur Mr. Faruk Mustafa Rasool. It is today the only national Iraqi telecom network to provide coverage for all of the country’s provinces in the north and the south and is the largest private Iraqi company, serving over 8 million subscribers and connecting the Iraqi nation together.
About TransferTo
TransferTo, is a global airtime remittance hub that interconnects mobile operators’ prepaid systems. TransferTo enables small value transfers through mobile phone. With this solution, migrants can send mobile credit from their mobile phones or through retailers, banks or money transfer companies to their friends and relatives back home. It is a fast, reliable and convenient solution for international mobile top-ups, the ideal low cost, high value complement to cash remittances. With over 100 migration corridors in 5 continents fully covered, TransferTo is the leader in international airtime remittances.
Excessive handset subsidies in Netherlands come to an end
Following T-Mobile’s recent announcement, market leader KPN has also decided to cut the commissions it pays to retailers for selling mobile services in The Netherlands. From September, KPN will gradually reduce handset subsidies and sales commissions. The handset subsidies and excessive sales commissions have been a thorn in the side of operators in recent years amid an increasingly saturated Dutch mobile market. The handset subsidies and sales commission contribute to very high churn rates, reaching 30 percent, but do not add to service revenue growth, putting pressure on profit margins. A reduction was inevitable, but the question was which operator dared to take the first step and risk giving the competition an advantage? The first move by T-Mobile and the recent success of E-Plus in Germany may have helped KPN take the decision to pull the plug on handset subsidies in The Netherlands.
Source- http://www.telecompaper.com
