Strategic thrust; tactical play?
UK operator Orange today re-attacked the home fixed-line broadband market with a tariff package that includes 500 inclusive call minutes to mobile phones. The £15 per month rate gives customers a 12 month home broadband price plan with no connection fee, unlimited broadband usage, inclusive anytime calls to landlines, 500 inclusive minutes to mobile phones and landline calls to 30 international countries.
Orange said it had introduced its new package to give customers “peace of mind when using their landline to call mobiles”.
The Broadband and Anytime Mobile Calls plan also comes with McAfee Anti-virus 2012 + Parental controls, a Bright Box wireless ‘n-series’ router, and access to Orange brand benefits such as Orange Wednesdays and Orange Films to Go. Orange pay monthly mobile customers taking up Orange home broadband and calls will also qualify for inclusive Wi-Fi hotspot access to over 200,000 locations across the country.
Sylvain Thevenot, Director of Marketing & Propositions, Orange Broadband said: “We have taken our plans to the next level and created the UK’s first ever package with inclusive mobile minutes. Our new plan continues to play a part in our commitment to offer our customers the most transparent and best value broadband deals across the country.”
The new plans will be supported with a Brighter Broadband marketing campaign, which includes digital and in-store placements, and direct marketing to existing customers, using the Orange Ninja creative.
Orange’s bundling of calls to mobiles with home broadband throws a light on the strategic importance “mobile only” operators attach to having an “in-home” presence. Not only can it be useful from a data offloading point of view, but it also extends the brand beyond mobile and allows a platform for other services – especially in content. Orange’s first efforts to offer consumers free or cheap voice came with a VoIP over Wireless offering through its livebox. This landline-to-mobile offering is a more traditional
The second possibility, more tactical, is that the margin loss for Orange on subsidising calls terminating to mobile networks is less, following cuts to mobile termination rates (MTRs). Whilst it suffers in terms of its own topline revenues, Orange can also take advantage of this in the wholesale market to offer its home broadband users inclusive calls to mobiles.