BT’s new deal with Vodafone, which was announced earlier this year, puts an end to its previous MVNO deal with mmO2, which has catered for BT’s business mobile customers since the company was spun out from its former parent. It will also see BT switch off its consumer MVNO deal with T-Mobile in the new year.
But the deal also effectively puts an end to BT’s isolation as a major European incumbent telco without a mobile arm, with BT responsible for all marketing, branding, billing and customer service, as well as sourcing its own hardware and ISV partners for its mobile service.
This is the start of a new era for us. We can really now say we are the sixth [UK] mobile operator, Steve Andrews, managing director of BT Mobile, told ComputerWire.
Essentially we were tied up in a de-merger agreement that limited us in our ability to sell services into our business customers. It’s no longer BT reselling O2’s network [and being locked into its products and portfolio]. With Vodafone we can sign supply agreements as a reseller that you wouldn’t usually be able to do.
BT’s relationship with Research In Motion to offer BT-branded BlackBerry wireless email was the first such example of this freedom. And Andrews said BT has plans to extend with RIM to extend its BlackBerry offer to segment-specific applications such as field force automation.
But it is the convergence implications of the deal, in terms of fixed-mobile and voice-data convergence, that BT is most hoping to cash in on. We won’t out-compete [other mobile operators] on straight mobile but on packaging and making things simple. It’s a big step towards achieving convergence. There’s not another MVNO like us with the full freedom to interconnect products, said Andrews.
The first examples of this include a mobile virtual private network offering through which voice calls to company mobiles can be made and charged at reduced rates. BT has also introduced a service known as Conference on Demand that enables conference calls to be managed via a mobile handset.
The company is also set to offer lower rate wireless hotspot access through its BT Openzones business to BT Mobile customers in the near future, with the aim of creating a flat-rate, single-bill offering in the longer term.
This is the beginning of a series of convergence steps, said Andrews. Next year we will integrate mobile and fixed voicemail – we already have text [SMS] to fixed. Then there’s our strategy for convergence on the handset with Project Bluephone and then a WiFi phone.
BT’s deal with Vodafone also extends to its recently switched on 3G network, but BT is unlikely to launch its own 3G offer until the new year, said Andrews. Similar to other operators, BT’s first such service looks likely to be a 3G data card to provide secure remote access to corporate intranets.
But it is clear that BT has some greater ambitions for 3G after its service comes on stream. The 3G launch won’t just be mobile to mobile. It will be 3G to broadband, 3G to applications at home, he said.
BT hopes to generate about GBP1 billion ($1.85 billion) from its mobility and convergence services within five years. Vodafone will gain over 300,000 new connections from the arrangement.
