Virgin Media Eyes Complementary Mobile Broadband Market
According to the executives at Virgin Media the mobile broadband market has limited appeal to most customers and that they intend to change this by allowing the service to complements the existing range of services in their product bundles.
Virgin Media has strong roots in high-end broadband, television, and mobile communication bundles. Because of this they have firm belief that their incursion into the mobile broadband market will be highly successful.
The company, known for being the first quadruple play company in the United Kingdom, is listed in New York but operates only in the UK. During its entry into the mobile broadband market last month, they offered mobile broadband services at fifteen pounds per month. Virgin Media also plans to roll out their mobile broadband service in bundles similar to the Virgin Mobile bundles already available in the market today.
During the annual Morgan Stanley technology, media, and telecoms conference in Barcelona, Virgin Media chief executive Neil Berkett said that “Mobile broadband, in the short to medium future, will be a complementary product in the UK.” Furthermore he adds that “at the top end of products, a dongle (mobile broadband modem) will be very cheap indeed.” This reflects the company’s view on the mobile broadband market as an available resource that can be successfully tapped.
Current views from Ofcom, the media regulatory body, which states that BSkyB, a pay-TV company, should provide wholesale level access to premium, high-definition, and sports content, is fully supported by Berkett. He said “I have a high degree of confidence there will be a remedy in the marketplace, but not in the next quarter or so”. The current cost of premium content has prevented the increase in market share and has limited its spread to only about six million households.
Virgin Media Announce New Mobile Broadband Packages
In a bid to increase its online customer base Virgin Media has launched its own mobile broadband packages. They have become the last of the six major telecommunications operators in the United Kingdom to launch mobile broadband services.
Virgin media mobile broadband subscribers will be get up to 3GB worth of mobile downloads a month at standard monthly fee of fifteen pounds. Subscribers need to sign an 16 month contract with Virgin Media for the mobile broadband access which currently makes use of the T-Mobile cellular phone network as its backbone. Subscribers will also get a free USB modem for use on their laptops and tablet devices.
Market Expansion
The recent increase in interest on mobile broadband technology has lead to fears of mobile network congestions and slow downs. Members of the GSM Association, which includes companies like Microsoft, Dell, Toshiba, Ericsson, Vodafone, and T-Mobile, are increasing network capacity and introducing new technologies to support the rapid expansion of the mobile broadband market.
One such technology may allow future users to have instant out of the box access to the internet using cheap dongles that allow access to the mobile broadband network. New laptops are being equipped to become broadband network ready without the need for additional devices. Increasing worldwide demand for such devices has led to tremendous financial backing from various telecommunications companies.
WiMax, a new technology set to rival or replace the current HSDPA mobile broadband networks, has been rolling out slowly in Europe but has seen tremendous growth in the US. Today, telecommunications companies are watching what effects the WiMax protocol will have on the current mobile broadband market trends and are planning to respond accordingly.
Virgin Media Steers Clear from Mobile Broadband Price Wars
Virgin Media’s entry into the mobile broadband market has lead to new speculations on how it will affect the current active price war among competitors in the field. However from its initial launch Virgin Media has made it clear that they have no intention of joining the price war and intend to approach the market in a different way.
Industry experts expect Virgin Media will avoid the price war altogether and look towards the loyalty of its current customers for the expansion of their mobile broadband customer base. This they say is because Virgin Media believes that its good reputation among its current customers and brand name recognition will be enough for them to gain a good customer base without lowering their prices enough to become involved in the price war. According to one report "Virgin will not be using price to compete for mobile broadband customers, rather the company hopes its reputation for providing good fixed line broadband services will help create interest in the service."
After the launch of their mobile broadband service a Virgin Media official said that “The launch of our Mobile Broadband product means UK consumers can now get all of their broadband needs from the UK's leading broadband expert.” Also adding that “Virgin Media already provides the fastest broadband in the UK over our fiber-optic network and now customers can enjoy our broadband both at home and when on the move."
Virgin Media mobile broadband services are currently being offered at a cost of fifteen pounds a month at available bandwidth that would be equal to two hundred music files, a hundred two minute video streams, a hundred hours worth of web surfing, and over two thousand emails.
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