12 November 2007

Vodafone gets serious about the Internet

Vodafone Ireland is upping the ante in the mobile internet market, offering flat-rate access to its Irish customers and forming partnerships with well-known websites.
The operator's 1 million customers are now able to access the internet through their existing handsets for EUR0.99 a day for prepay customers, subject to a 50MB per day cap, and EUR9.99 a month for post-pay customers, with up to 500MB access per month. The 50MB limit will allow customers to access up to 75 minutes of YouTube videos, or up to 1,000 internet pages a day, the mobile operator said.
Vodafone Ireland has clocked up over 40,000 customers for its 3G broadband service, according to its latest figures. The mobile operator held on to its lead in the mobile broadband market with sales in the quarter of over 11,000, bringing its total 3G Broadband base to over 40,000 by the end of the quarter ended 30 September 07. Since then it has increased its 3G Broadband base to 45,000.
The operator's reach in the broadband market looks set to widen considerably following the recent announcement that it has acquired fixed line phone and broadband provider Perlico.
Commenting on ENN.ie, Vodafone Ireland's chief executive Charles Butterworth said: “Our product suite has seen further growth with traditional mobile offerings complemented in the last quarter with the launch of Vodafone Mobile Internet."
The operator has implemented technology on its network that adapts web pages for mobile use, enabling users to access familiar sites while on the move.  Partnership deals with YouTube, eBay, MySpace and Google will provide content to customers. Carolan Lennon, Vodafone Ireland's consumer director, is confident that its customers will welcome the new partnerships and services. "This is stuff everyone is doing every day," said Lennon. "We're not trying to sell people content they aren't interested in."
However, Vodafone does face stiff competition from rivals O2 and 3 Ireland, who have also launched mobile broadband services to their customers. And already we have seen the launch of advertising options hoping to attract media buyers targeting these lucrative audience profiles. 

The implication for marketers and advertisers is significant. The internet is not only widening its audience reach through mobile platforms, it’s also greatly increasing the frequency of use. According to recent data, the average adult internet user in the EU allocates over 25% of their media consumption to the Internet. That’s 2nd only to TV. With mobile internet growing in popularity, that share of media consumption looks set to increase further.

This should further fuel the growth in online advertising spend experienced in Ireland since 2005. Irish media agencies and their clients now seem increasingly willing to pull budget from traditional media and follow the public online.

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