Staff Reporter

A recent study by the firm into operators that have deployed its DateTrak application has shown they enjoy ARPU increases of up to 80 per cent as a result of the large numbers of subscribers texting potential love matches.

The application which allows users to anonymously search for and text compatible partners across mobile networks has already been deployed across the world by several operators.

Users over the age of 30 generate up to four times more revenue than 15- to 20-year-olds said Landmat director of strategic relations Eythor Arnalds.

Most data services are traditionally targeted at the youth market so this study is a perfect example of how with the right application revenue from data can be found across all age groups.

Henson fills the position formerly held by former MD Geoff Walters son Paul Walters who left last month. The Walters family sold the business to Avenir two-and-a-half years ago but were contracted to continue running the business during a handover period.

Avenirs new managing director former finance director Ishai Novick said he was still recruiting other senior members of staff as the company embarked on an expansion drive.

We are recruiting to strengthen the management team. My vision is to expand the UK business. There are a number of areas in which we can do that.

Our parent company owns extensive retail chains in a number of countries. We are looking at retail opportunities in the UK. We would need a critical mass of around 100 stores to be successful. We will acquire shops if the right opportunity arises and the market is right. The networks have said they intend to reduce the amount of stores they have. That will create opportunities for us.

He went on to note that Avenir in France is traditionally strong in accessories and SIM-free sales.

We are also looking to expand in those areas he said. We are talking to handset manufacturers and hope to work with them. We cant afford to stand still.

The increases will be felt by pay-as-you go customers who will see the price of calls rise by at least 5p per minute on most calls.

Calls to landlines and Orange mobiles rise by 5p per minute from 15p to 20p per minute. Off-net calls also rise by 5p from 35p per minute to 40p per minute.

International call charges have been increased by as much as 20p per minute to some destinations.

Data services did not escape the price rises. The cost of sending text messages was raised by 2p to 12 p per message while Orange has abolished the 5p per minute weekend rate for WAP calls. These are charged at 10p per minute at all times. Orange will impose a minimum 5p call charge except for roaming calls.

Orange is also abolishing discount call rates for customers who purchase 50 top-ups on the Choose Your Own Off Peak pre-pay tariff. Instead it will offer customers an extra 5 worth of calls each time they top up their mobile accounts by 50.

On the other hand Orange is re-introducing its Care package for small business customers only. Orange is also trying to stimulate GPRS usage with a three-month free trail of GPRS to all personal and small business customers subject to a 30Mb per month fair use policy.

Businesses are also being offered an all you can use GPRS tariff for 45 per month subject to 100 Mb per month fair use.

Orange defended its pre-pay price rises claiming its minimum call charge was still lower than Vodafone and was on a par with T-Mobile and O2. It claimed its international call charges were still five per cent lower than BT overall.

A spokesperson explained: These new charges are part of a refresh of our pay-as-you-go service plans. Orange is to raise some of the prices of its plans. However from July we will be introducing free reserve calls across all our pay-as-you-go service plans as well as giving 10 per cent free talk-time on all top-ups of 50.

These changes are designed to ensure that Orange offers a pay-as-you-go portfolio that allows customers a choice of products and services to tailor their package according to how they use their phone.

Although Orange has made some changes to its pay-as-you-go portfolio it still offers good value for money for our customers claimed the spokesperson.

The total number of chargeable person-to-person text messages sent across the four UK GSM networks in March 2003 totalled 1.72 billion.

Marchs figure takes the daily average to 56 million double the number of text messages sent in March 2001.

Two events during March produced significant increase in daily traffic rates – Mothers Day and St Patricks Day.

St Patricks Day saw more than 65 million text messages sent throughout the UK.

Most of Britains population have used text messages to vote for their favourite pop star or celebrity in various interactive programmes on television and radio including Big Brother said the MDA.

Other participants include Vodafone Orange O2 3 Motorola Nokia Siemens and Microsoft.

Shazam recently won a Mobile News Award for its innovative service that can identify snatches of song music sent via mobile against more than 1.6 million songs – and return a text message with the name of a queried track.

Mobile News and its companion consumer title What Mobile are the exclusive mobile media partners of Mobile Life and copies of What Mobile will be handed out to Mobile Life visitors.

Mobile Life is themed around a 24-hour day. The exhibition is laid out in a clock shape that will lead visitors through a world where they can experiment with the latest mobile devices related to the activities of the time of day from a morning in the office to a night at the casino tables.

Showgoers will also get a chance to race in an F1 simulator on a real Grand Prix circuit and compete for free talk-time and prizes.

Mobile Life is shaping up to be a huge event with more than 30000 people set to attend over the shows three-day run said Carphone Warehouse boss Charles Dunstone.

Tickets cost 10 in advance but are available to Mobile News readers in a two-for-one offer by visiting the mobilelifeevent.co.uk website or by calling 08000 491 008 and quoting reference MN102.

Virgin Mobile now has more than 2.6 million customers in the UK and expects to sign up its three millionth later this year.

The good news for Orange was that its contract customer base swelled by 54000 subscribers while its pre-pay base dropped by 53000 overall. The network still has some nine million pre-pay customers representing 67.8 per cent of its total customer base. Oranges customer base now stands at 13.3 million customers.

Orange was also cheered by news that its customers were generating more revenue.

Oranges average annual revenue per user (ARPU) based on the latest Q1 figures indicated an 18 rise – from 245 to 263.

Contract ARPU was strongest rising 21 to 263 while pre-pay ARPU rose by just 4 to 125.

Data revenues per customer rose sharply over the past 12 months rising 30 per cent to 39 per user.

Orange chief executive John Allwood claimed the networks SPV smartphone was responsible for substantial increases in Internet and GPRS access in the UK.

Allwood said SPV users browse the Internet on their phones for an average of three hours per month.

Virgin on the other hand said its users generated an average 136 per year higher than Orange pre-pay and claimed that its users accounted for a quarter of T-Mobiles total SMS traffic.

(Virgin into profit – see P6).

Customers download the xmail software from the O2 website (www.o2.co.uk/xmail) and get secure access to their business data in minutes. Data is delivered to the xda in real time without the need for cradle synchronisation.

Customers can sign up for a free 10-day trail of xmail. After that they have to pay a 9.99 monthly subscription for the service exclusive of airtime or data usage.

Called FaceWave the technology allows users to create messages by choosing from a library of faces including well-known personalities cartoons and even animals and then dictating their personal message into the mobile phone.

FaceWave then animates the face to make it speak the message which can be previewed by the user and sent as an MMS.

Users can animate the faces they create on their mobile handsets simply by adding a voice message or typing in a text message. The message is converted to speech and performed by the animated face.

Customers will soon be able to use their own still photos celebrity caricatures or even an animated hamster to get to grips with what may be the next national craze.

A trading statement to the City noted:

During the first quarter of 2003 intense price competition in the business market from certain mobile network operators has resulted in higher levels of churn lower than anticipated growth in our customer base and a reduction in average revenues per customer.

In addition connection commissions paid by the network operators have been cut significantly in some cases by more than 50 per customer. Network operators may seek to implement further reductions in commissions later in the year.

Project predicts profits should match those it made last year.

Management will take all actions necessary to ensure that the company continues to grow rapidly to take advantage of opportunities to further develop the business and to deliver an expanding range of products and services said the company.

The accounts also show that Virgin Group sold 22990506 worth of Virgin Mobile handsets airtime vouchers and other stock items.

At the end of last year Virgin Mobile had net liabilities of 159.7 million (down from 161.7 million in 2001). Bank loans and overdrafts amounted to 6.9 million.

The virtual network also sold 11.7 million of pre-pay airtime vouchers. This was well down on the 26.7 million the year before reflecting the current emphasis on post-pay connections.

Virgin Mobile outperformed the targets of its business plan by some margin during the year said Harris Jones chairman of Virgin Mobile Telecoms.

The company consolidated its position as a credible alternative to the traditional networks. Over the course of the year Virgin Mobile attracted more net new customers than Orange O2 and Vodafone.

Alluding to the court case in which T-Mobile unsuccessfully attempted to trigger a no-fault termination of its joint venture agreement with Virgin Mobile Jones went on:

Unfortunately towards the end of the year disagreements between the shareholders and between T-Mobile and Virgin Mobile were escalated to the High Court in two separate cases. The prospect of further legal action remains for 2003. I am thankful for the ongoing support of our banks and employees during this time.

(see White Lines P48)