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EE CEO says 4G "Pricing is the most attractive in the world"
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EE CEO Olaf Swantee has defended their pricing strategy saying said "Pricing is the most attractive in the world."
Whilst in some countries 4G has received a premium price tag Three has come out this week and saying 4G will be at regular prices with unlimited data tariffs if that's what you want.
Perhaps EE are willing to loose customers in an attempt to maintain high prices and low data caps.
http://www.mobiletoday.co.uk/News/24091/EE_sets_sights_on_4G_hitting_half_the_UK_by_June_defends_pricing.aspx
Whilst in some countries 4G has received a premium price tag Three has come out this week and saying 4G will be at regular prices with unlimited data tariffs if that's what you want.
Perhaps EE are willing to loose customers in an attempt to maintain high prices and low data caps.
http://www.mobiletoday.co.uk/News/24091/EE_sets_sights_on_4G_hitting_half_the_UK_by_June_defends_pricing.aspx
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They won't be attractive if Three follow up on what they say.
They could get 800MHz and 2.6GHz which could be up and running by May or June.
A better word that comes to mind is "extortionate" :rolleyes:
But when you compare it to the USA or some other countries then it is a pretty good deal when you think about it.
Things are a bit different in Europe:
Austria = 30 Gbytes of data for €90 (£76) per month
Germany/Sweden/Denmark:
http://www.unwiredinsight.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/lte-pricing-table.png
Unlikely as no 800 masts have been done by MBNL or Three yet. Roll out is solely 1800 at this current time.
USA have a terribly uncompetitive mobile market which is dominated by giants. The incompatibility of CDMA and GSM techs also meant for many years people couldn't just migrate to a different network (unless it used same tech) because their phones are completely incompatible. Ironic for a supposed land of the free and champion of capitalism etc.
EE have not justified the speed improvement to customers and in offering 500MB limits have simply lost the plot as regards 4G's benefits to any potential customer.
Their pricing is a joke really and Hutchison 3G UK will make a fool of them when they have LTE bandwidth provided by EE.
EE's management don't seem to have caught on to the fact that most users just want to access simple information presently like social networks and the occasional YouTube video. They can get that from 3G easily and data hungry customers can get unlimited provision from 3 with almost as fast delivery using DC-HSDPA.
EE seem to have over valued the LTE advantage and have yet to produce a killer application that warrants the kind of excessive price premium they have pitched their 4G offering at. It's no wonder that EE won't reveal their 4G uptake stats, they are probably very poor and that would not do their floatation any favours.
Sorry to say that at this stage EE has got 4G as wrong as Hutchison got 3G wrong in 2003.
Damn, yes, that is also true!
When you look at the data allowances on European networks for a simpler price to EE's 5GB plans I have to agree with you. It's not the pricing they have wrong (they have to get that 1.5 Billion quid from somewhere), it's the allowances.
Very few people are going to use 20-30GB but if EE had launched with much higher allowances no one would be complaining.
Unlike some, I'm a realist and know I will have to pay for the latest tech but I have to admit I was surprised by the 500Mb plan when they launched. The problem was as I saw it was that the allowances were too close the 3G plans. There was nothing to differentiate them other than the extra speed and the vast majority of users wouldn't notice the difference between 4Mbps and 20Mbps. We would, but then we're anoraks (mean ‘t affectionately by the way) who go round doing speed tests all the time.
I for example am on EE4G's 3GB plan which is exactly the same price as Oranges iphone extra 3GB plan. They need something other than the speed to justify the extra £5 or so.
They aren't going to do it because it's not proven yet but I think they should be pushing the coverage thing more. I for one don't really care if the speed is 10Mbps or 20Mbps, it's the coverage that will do it for me. EVERY day I'm indoors somewhere with 1-3 bars 2G and no 3G. LTE will fix this and some!
If Three do what they say they are going to do then something is going to have to change. My only concern is how are Three going to pay for their investment in LTE?
Yes, as a small densley populated island and with people at the top of EE/MBNL who know what we want I personally think the UK will have the best networks/coverage in the world within 18 months. I am concerned for VOD and O2 though. We need them to be competetive to keep prices down.Thier 3G networks are still crap. Are they going to catch up? Will VOD get the 2x800 with coverage obligation and surprise us all? Will O2 realise we want 3/4G in rural areas as well as towns? Will I ever stop typing on this forum and realise it's Friday and I should be flicking through the music channels wondering why I bothered because it's all commercial breaks. Will I ever get my invoicing done? Will hell actually freeze over?
Answers on a postcard (for people who are old enough to know what that means).
Aggressively building a customer base on minimal margins, smacks of a company preparing it's business and balance sheet for a sell off.
That's what I'm talking about!! Completely ignore the subject stuff and comment on the other crap. It's Friday night, good one Hahahaha
plugged my iPhone in now. No ads!
But, they are unlimited plans. Saying that, does it cost Three any more money than the other members of the 'big four' if the average user is only using, say, 750MB-1.5GB a month (not sure what the average on Three is)?
If they keep adding customers at around a million a year for the next few years, then those small margins will get bigger surely?
Maybe that's HW's plan, as they were always entering the market long after the other four (at the time) had established themselves.
Good decision by the way. I've got about 20 minutes of Wednesday's Africa left to watch so I may do that later. Excellent show that.
Anyway, back on topic I think, before we get into trouble...
(Apologies...I have had a cider this evening )
I think that's on topic.
I know Wave has branded the 4GEE thing as a 'failure', but do we know how many customers they've actually got on their 4G tariffs? If not, then it could be a success for all we know...