Internet, data and
value added services
During the course of the year, Telefónica O2 continued to market its broadband proposition branded as
O2 Internet. Customers activating the home variant O2 Internet Home got the service for CZK 600 per month for a period of one year – without a commitment and fixed access charges. New and existing customers also qualified for additional discounts if they combined their internet service with other services. From the middle of 2010, the Company focused on promoting its higher tariff with the speed of up to 16 MB/s for CZK 400 per month. A good balance of speed, price and reliability continued to be the primary attraction for getting ADSL from Telefónica O2.
During the course of 2010, Telefónica O2 strengthened its leadership in the mobile data market. Together with the expansion of its mobile broadband network, the Company launched the Smart Network campaign which spearheaded the offer of new services in the area of mobile internet and internet in a mobile device.
From 8 June, Telefónica O2 had a new post-paid mobile internet tariffs. Customers could choose from
O2 Mobile Internet Standard for CZK 500 inclusive of VAT with FUP data limit of 2 GB, O2 Mobile Internet Pro for CZK 750 inclusive of VAT with FUP data limit of 10 GB, O2 Mobile Internet Unlimited for CZK 1,000 inclusive of VAT and no data limit. O2 Mobile Internet Start for CZK 300 inclusive of VAT with a monthly data limit (FUP) of 500 MB, which gave a good balance between the price and downloadable data, found its customers mainly among occasional users of mobile internet. The Company also introduced mirror range of mobile internet services in the form of add-ons to the fixed O2 Internet, and improved the proposition even further by offering a satisfaction guarantee – the service could be ‘returned’ without a sanction within two months of purchase.
Telefónica O2 was the only operator in the market to introduce, from 1 June, a concept of pre-paid mobile internet branded as O2 Pre-paid Mobile Internet, accompanied by a range of daily packages. The service gave customers unlimited access to the internet, without the need to commit to a contract and regular payments; it came in four options, tiered by price. The daily packages consisted of 24 hour blocks which could be used up anytime within two months from the activation. The user could go online and offline as often as they liked within one block, which was capped at 500 MB of data (FUP). The pricing structure was as follows: 1 day – CZK 50; 5 x 1 day – CZK 200; 10 x 1 day – CZK 350; 30 x 1 day – CZK 900. Customers could subscribe to pre-paid mobile internet in two ways - with the O2 Mobile Internet set or the O2 Mobile Internet card. The set consisted of a pre-paid SIM card with five weeks of free internet access and a Huawei E1750 USB modem, and it was priced at CZK 995. The O2 Mobile Internet card could be purchased separately for CZK 95; it came pre-loaded with a credit of CZK 50, which gave the customer one day of free access. Customers appreciated that they paid only for those days when they actually went online. The product was designed namely for customers who need mobile internet access only occasionally.
In June, Telefónica O2 expanded its portfolio of internet access via a mobile device for pre-paid customers. Smartphone owners wanting blithely access to the internet via their mobile device could subscribe to the new O2 Internet on Your Mobile Plus, which was priced at CZK 75 per week inclusive of VAT. The monthly data limit (FUP) was set at 500 MB.
SME customers could get, if they subscribed to selected mobile data tariffs, a Samsung N 150 netbook for the subsidised price of CZK 1,495, or the professional notebook HP 4520s for CZK 6,495, both with an integrated 3G modem, hence giving the customer access to the fastest mobile data network without the need to have any additional equipment.
Starting from June, the Company’s customers were given the opportunity to use the BlackBerry Expres service without the initial acquisition cost of BlackBerry Enterprise server. A new tariff BlackBerry Modem also let customers use their BlackBerry devices as a modem for wireless internet access from a personal computer.
On 30 November 2010 Telefónica O2 started offering data tariffs for the iPad with WiFi and 3G capability. All the data tariffs came without a contract and commitment – they could be simply activated and deactivated as needed. The WiFi hotspots of Telefónica O2 in the Czech Republic were opened to customers free of charge.
As to internet connectivity and data services for the corporate segment, in 2010 Telefónica O2 focused namely on increasing its head start on the other providers, and on adding more value to these services for the customer to benefit from. In January 2010, the Company introduced a new concept of internet connectivity for corporate customers. The support of the PAM32 SDL protocol made it possible to offer symmetric access of up to 20 MB/s over the wide-reaching metallic cable network. The service O2 Internet Business also came with an unprecedented scope of value added services – from connection reliability guarantee, VoIP, anti-virus shield and user defined filters of internet communication to a mobile back-up. O2 Internet Business represented a solid foundation upon which the customer could build a reliable communication solution addressing the needs of their businesses and offering voice and data – safely. The introduction of the service helped the Company increase its share of the corporate internet access market.
In the area of fixed data services, at the beginning of the year the Company performed a thorough analysis of this segment, which included, among other things, individual interviews with customers. This exercise resulted in a proposal of modifications with the view to make the service a tight fit with the profiles of individual customers and their needs. The interviews focused namely on the technology, access capacities (speeds), optimal configuration of the service availability guarantee and the offer of add-on services. The retail giant Kaufland with almost one hundred outlets was one of the major new acquisitions in the second half of the year.
In April, Telefónica O2 started offering a new service branded as O2 Clean Internet, which gave a professional level of protection against malicious code to any computer network which was connected to the internet through the infrastructure of Telefónica O2. The service O2 Clean Internet could be installed on most types of internet connection offered by the Company (symmetric/asymmetric xDSL lines, IOL Ethernet, VPN Expres, etc.). The professional solution considerably reduced the occurrence of malicious code (malware, spyware) and viruses in local networks and at the same time gave the users all the necessary tools to monitor and manage the security of the online interface and filter out unwanted internet traffic. The solution did not require any modifications on the part of the customer’s infrastructure as the whole service was operated from the O2 data centre and did not pose any capacity demands on the customer’s network. The price was CZK 500 per internet connection.
Customers of O2 TV could enjoy two innovations from Telefónica O2 introduced on 1 October 2010. All users of the virtual Video on Demand home movie rental function could watch all films in the New Releases section at a discount of CZK 25, and films for children at a discount of 25%. Ten new channels were added to the programme offer of O2 TV, making the total of 81 digital channels. The channels were activated automatically and free of charge, depending on the customers’ choice of package.
On 15 October, Telefónica O2 presented its innovated O2 TV concept. From that date onwards, all customers could pick and mix channels as per their preference and needs to make the basic package which is now called O2 TV Flexi. This package containing automatically 20 channels of choice could be supplemented with two add-on theme packages with up to 19 additional channels for the price starting from CZK 400 (if fixed internet access is subscribed simultaneously), or from 550 (concurrently with fixed voice) or CZK 650 (standalone price). Naturally, any number of add-on theme packages from the ‘menu’ could be on top of the basic O2 TV Flexi. The more packages were subscribed, the bigger the savings. Every second package cost CZK 50 less; the maximum discount was CZK 150. If the channel selection no longer suited the customer, they could re-configure it every 30 days free of charge.
Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication was among the most dynamically growing business areas in 2010. During the second quarter of the year, Telefónica O2 started offering IP Connect M2M, a service supporting the communication between metering equipment and other technology with customer networks. It is a service relying on a low-capacity fixed data connection with a high degree of availability, especially when combined with mobile back-up. The transmission capacity requirement of this service is on the same par with ATM machines, metering and surveillance equipment. The Company developed its M2M proposition further by offering remote access to fixed networks. Telefónica O2 also came out with a special mobile tariff O2 Machine to meet the demand from customers for a capped cost of data transmission within mobile M2M solutions. It was the first service offering a comprehensive M2M solution and other standardised add-on services, including remote equipment control, self-activation of services or a complete range of Software as a Service applications. O2 Car Control was the first M2M service which spanned the whole value chain and naturally it was met with an enthusiastic market reception.
The portfolio of O2 Car Control services was expanded in the first quarter of the year. The new service, Personal Control, makes it possible to monitor employees working in the field for their greater safety and also to optimise the effectiveness and quality of their work. Leaflet distribution, working in hazardous or difficult conditions or community work were the typical areas in which the service was put to good use.
