Personal Group to axe Shebang brand after MVNO buy – but Iain Humphrey stays
Shebang brand to disappear after 13 years following £1.3 million MVNO sale to Personal Group
Retailers
April 28, 2015
Running on Three network, iD will have value 12 month 4G contracts and access to free data roaming in 22 countries
Dixons Carphone has launched a new MVNO which it claims offers the lowest priced 4G contract prices in the UK market.
The MVNO, called iD, runs off the Three whoelsale network and will be available through Carphone Warehouse, Dixons Carphone , Currys and PC World stores and online from May.
ID will also offer 12 month handset bundled contracts and free calls and data roaming in 22 countries, four more than Three (18) and five more than Lycamobile (17).
Dixons Carphone announced its MVNO plans in February.Offers on the plan include a Samsung A3 on a 12 month 4G plan with 300 minutes, 5,000 texts and 1GB of data for £19.50 per month.
Carphone Warehouse UK CEO Graham Stapleton said: “We’ve been listening to our millions of customers’ network requirements and desires for years. In doing so we have identified some common challenges.
“People want greater flexibility from their plans and are fed up with the ‘one size fits all’ approach. We are also a generation obsessed with the mobile internet and accessing data and services on the move – things people are either paying too much for or just aren’t getting.
“Addressing these challenges forms the basis of the first wave of plans from iD.”
Stapleton pointed to a recent survey by consumer advice website Which? that found overspend on mobile phone charges in the UK costs users £5.42 billion per year by being on the wrong tariff.
Tying in customers
On the launch, Kantar WPC analyst Imran Choudhary said: “With the UK network landscape set to change with the proposed mergers of BT and EE, and Three and O2, Carphone Warehouse are looking to take this opportunity to launch their own MVNO network off the back of Three’s network. With the demise of Phones4U, Carphone Warehouse is playing an increasingly important role in mobile device retailing, and they were largest retailer within device sales in Q1 2015 in the UK.
“The launch of their own MVNO will allow them to tie customers onto their propositions, taking advantage of their extensive retail network and the amount of footfall they get. Differentiating themselves from other MVNOs like GiffGaff and more recently BT, will be key to success and Carphone will be offering free roaming up to 22 countries, offering what other MVNOs currently don’t.
“However, Carphone will have to be careful not to disrupt relations with their MNO partners like O2, EE and Vodafone.”
Mobile News carried out a comparison against all the major operators for the 4G deal on the A3 and found that both O2 and EE offered a cheaper monthly cost (£18.50 and £16.99 per month respectively) although these were all on 24 month contracts, while iD’s will be on a 12 month offer.
The EE deal came with 500 minutes, unlimited texts and 500MB and would cost £407.76 altogether over the 24 month period.
O2’s deal came with a lot less data – 100MB – and cost £463.99 over the 24 months. ID’s deal costs £234 over 12 months or £468 over 24 months. The A3 was not available from Three, while Vodafone charged £22 per month (£528 overall).