Just days after rival Vodafone Group Plc said it would start offering broadband services to its mobile customers, first in Germany and then in other markets, Orange has joined the likes of the Carphone Warehouse Plc by using a free broadband connection to UK users in order to reduce customer churn. The broadband offer currently costs 17.99 pounds ($33.67) a month through Wanadoo.
France Telecom’s Orange unit is offering mobile customers who pay more than 30 pounds ($56.18) a month for their mobile tarrifs a combination of free broadband up to 8Mbps, plus a wireless modem known as Livebox which customers plug into their telephone socket. This device uses the Wireless & Talk VoIP service, allowing free evening and weekend calls to UK landlines.
There is no connection fee, although customers will still have to pay a line rental charge of 10.99 pounds ($20.59) per month to their service provider. Orange Pay Monthly customers will also be offered free fixed-line calls to Orange mobile phones. Subscribers must also commit to an 18-month contract, and an extra 6 pounds ($11.23) per month will give them free VoIP calls to UK landlines at any time.
On the business side, Orange said it would bundle all its business products together under the new name Orange Business Services. This includes Orange’s mobile business services, Equant’s international IP communication and IT services, and Etrali’s voice-trading products.
Orange’s future strategy is to offer a quad-play service (broadband, mobile, fixed-line, and TV), a move that will place it in direct competition with the likes of UK cable giant NTL Corp. The French operator calls this quad-play approach Total Communications, and the big selling point is that it will allow customers to receive a single bill for all of those services. Customers today want a seamless experience, said Orange chief executive Sanjiv Ahuja. They don’t care about the technology.
Orange is also trialing a new handset that can be used for routing calls over the internet, on a fixed line, or as a normal mobile phone, depending on whether you are inside or outside the home. Other forthcoming services include music, gaming, communication, and security services, although there were no further details about these other than they will arrive in the near future. Another future offering is a home TV service.
Orange has a large potential customer base to sell the new service to in the UK, where it has more than 1 million broadband customers and 15 million mobile customers.
