|
Author: Dan Bieler
After having announced it at CeBIT 2006 in March, T-Com has finally launched its dual-phone offering, T-One. The offer comes about six months after T-Mobile launched its own fixed-mobile substitution offer, T-Mobile@Home.
Comment: T-One is similar to other dual-phone solutions in so far as it combines a fixed and a mobile phone into one device. Users can use the T-One phone at home like a fixed-phone, make calls at T-Com and T-Mobile hotspots in Germany and use the handset like a mobile phone elsewhere. As with other dual solutions, the key selling points are one device, one mailbox, one address book and one bill.
Whilst we are believers in convergence offerings, two issues need to be addressed for T-One to become a roaring success in our view: price and competition with T-Mobile @Home.
Price does not seem to be the prime selling point for T-One. The offer is valid only in combination with the One 50 tariff. One 50 is charged at €19 per month and comprises 50 free calling minutes (i.e. 38 cents per minute). Minutes thereafter are charged at 39 cents. The connection charge for One 50 is €25 (although it is free for subscribers in August) and the contract runs for 24 months. T-One only works in combination with a T-Com fixed line connection, which starts at €15.95 (and a connection charge of €59.95). To be able to use VoIP, users must subscribe to a T-Online DSL line, which is charged around €20, depending on the speed, plus a flat-rate tariff for €9.95. The DSL connection costs €99.95. T-Online's flat-rate telephony offering costs €9.95 and the hotspot VoIP tariff is €4.95.
In other words, a T-One customer must pay about €70 per month to get the full range of services, after having paid connection charges of €185. The absolute minimum spent, forgoing the DSL connection, would come to about €55 (One 50 plus €35 line rental and fixed-flat rate). But even this looks rather a lot compared to other fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) offerings. For example, E-Plus' BASE flat rate is charged at €25 per month with unlimited calls to national fixed and E-Plus numbers (calls to other operators cost 25 cents).
So T-One's selling point must be convenience rather than price. We do see demand for one-device solutions. The problem for T-One is that a mobile-only solution with home-zone really overcomes this issue. The success of T-Mobile@Home is proof of that. When we enquired about the most attractive one-device solution at a local T-Punkt (Deutsche Telekom's own shops), we were pointed towards T-Mobile@Home rather than T-One. This should not be surprising given the novelty of T-One, but at the same time it underlines the potential conflict of interest between T-Com and T-Mobile in attracting customers.
In the longer term we would expect the market to move more towards true flat convergent rates, both fixed and mobile and on-net and off-net. With current mobile termination rate levels, such offerings are of course still uneconomical. However, mobile termination rates are falling and mobile VoIP is coming. Thus FMC tariffs will decline. In this sense, T-One is a step in the right direction, but not a giant leap.
|
