With subscriber numbers running at less than half their target, Hutchison Telecommunications UK Ltd’s Personal Communications Telepoint pocket phone subsidiary has cut the prices of its GEC Plessey Telecommunications Ltd-made Rabbit CT2 phones, and formed a direct sales force to target small businesses. The company said last October that it was expecting 20,000 subscribers by year-end, but at the start of March it had signed just 8,500 to the service. According to Neill Macklin, marketing director for Hutchison, there are two reasons for the slow take-up: that the company realised late last year it did not have sufficient geographical coverage to promote the service fully, and because it hadn’t predicted the onslaught from the low-cost cellular services [of Cellnet and Vodafone]. Indeed, Macklin reckons that the 11,500 subscribers it is missing have been attracted by Cellnet Mobile Communications Ltd’s Lifetime service and the Vodafone Group Plc’s Lowcall offering, both of which offer reduced call rates for infrequent users. So how does Rabbit plan to attract back these users? Initially, according to Macklin, through the new Team Rabbit direct sales force which is intended to push the advantages of CT2 for business users. He says that until now the company’s marketing drive has not been Telepoint led, and instead pitched at selling the handsets as a quality cordless phone. But with the new sales force, this is to change. However, this comment conflicts with statements made back in September, when the company said it was saddened by users employing the handsets solely as cordless phones and not taking advantage of the Rabbit network. The second prong of the attack is reduced rates for the GEC Plessey Rabbit phone, which drops in price to UKP69 from UKP127.65, and the Rabbit Recall package (including the park and charge unit), which goes to UKP100 from UKP177. Similarly, the addition of a base station is now to cost UKP69 rather than the UKP85 charged previously. The prices for Motorola Inc’s handsets and base stations remains unchanged. The company also believes that its increasing experience of managing what is claimed to be the largest CT2 network in the world should increase its competitiveness for the future. Macklin acknowledges that there has been a learning curve, particularly with regard to the siting of base stations where there has been some duplication of coverage. Although this has led to some re-siting of base stations, Macklin says these problems have been resolved.
