TALK IS CHEAP! Case Study of Finland

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1 TALK IS CHEAP! Case Study of Finland Summary The mobile service providers situation in today s market is such that no matter how loyal a user of a mobile service provider is - in terms of how long, frequent and regularly he/she pays her bills - there is often no direct reward given back for his/her loyalty to the mobile phone service provider. Therefore, Talk is Cheap! is a mobile service concept where the user benefits from talking and sending more : The service provider gains from the power of the network and the loyalty of the users, which is measured in terms of their (the users) active use of the mobile services and the growth in size of the network. The Talk is Cheap! service provider also benefits from both the difference of the dialled sent (to the of the users) on top of consistent monthly service fees paid by the users. In return, the service provider rewards the users loyalty in form of bonuses. (More details on how the user accumulates bonuses in the detailed business plan) The catch to the users is the psychology that they may call/message unrestrictedly and that their total monthly bill [excluding the monthly service fee] is determined by how long (the duration of the phone call) or frequent they call/send and are called/messaged back to by other users. The users may be subscribed to the Talk is Cheap! service provider or a co-operating service provider. The main target market is an active community-based group of young people within the age of who would wish to actively communicate more with their peers but are in a way limited by their financial resources. They range from students, part-time workers,

2 low income earners, teenagers, youth, more socially networked individuals, party people, clubbers, surfers, gym members et cetera. What is Talk is Cheap!? It is a mobile phone service concept where: The user benefits from talking and sending more. The service provider gains from the power of the enlarging community of users and their loyalty (measured in terms of their (the users) active use of the mobile services) and in return rewards the customers loyalty. The service provider gains from the power of the network and the loyalty of the users, which is measured in terms of their (the users) active use of the mobile services and the growth in size of the network. The Talk is Cheap! service provider also benefits from both the difference of the dialled sent (to the of the users) on top of consistent monthly service fees paid by the users. In return, the service provider rewards the users loyalty in form of bonuses. The catch to the users is the psychology that they may call/message unrestrictedly and that their total monthly bill [excluding the monthly service fee] is determined by how long (the duration of the phone call) or frequent they call/send and are called/messaged back to by other users. The users may be subscribed to the Talk is Cheap! service provider or a co-operating service provider. The main target market is an active community-based group of young people within the age of who would wish to actively communicate more with their peers.

3 How does the Talk is Cheap! mobile phone service concept work? The user s monthly bill (excluding the monthly service fee) is determined by how much or frequent they call/send and are called/messaged back to. Using examples of USERS A, B and C it is easy to illustrate the Talk is Cheap! mobile phone concept. Mobile phone details for USERS A, B, C for the month of January USER A USER B USER C Minutes of dialled sent Minutes of Minutes of dialled sent Minutes of Minutes of dialled sent Minutes of (-)10 (+)20 0 Monthly service fee n Monthly service fee n Monthly service fee n

4 Assuming 1 minute of a dialled call, sent message, call and message equals 0,10 cents where 100 cents is equivalent to 1 euro. n represents the compulsory monthly service fee. (-) represents the bonus amount of minutes at 0,10 cents each to be deducted from n. (+) represents the amount of minutes at 0,10 cents each to be added to n. USER A accumulates a bonus of 1 euro. = (dialled sent ) - ( ) = 30 minutes - 20 minutes = 10 minutes X 0,10 cents = 1 euro USER B pays 2 euros + n for the monthly bill. = (dialled sent ) - ( ) = 20 minutes - 40 minutes = 20 minutes X 0,10 cents = 2 euros USER C only pays the monthly service fees n. = (dialled sent ) - ( ) = 20 minutes - 20 minutes = 0 minutes X 0,10 cents = 0

5 Note that at the end of the month of January 2008, the customers generally pay less per minute for the total of the dialled sent that they make depending on how many they receive. Using USER C as an example, he/she dials and sends worth 20 minutes and only pays the monthly fee. Additionally, he /she has sentimental or important worth 20 minutes. USER A dials and sends totaling 30 minutes, receives sentimental or important worth 20 minutes and on top of that gets a bonus of 1 euro. Even in the worst case scenario as seen in USER B s case, he/she dials sends totaling 20 minutes, receives sentimental or important calls and worth 40 minutes and he/she pays the actual sum he/she would have paid if she belonged to another mobile network provider that does not operate as Talk is Cheap! does. Mobile phone itinenary for USERS A, B, C for the month of February USERS A USER B USER C Minutes of dialled calls and sent Minutes of Minutes of dialled calls and sent Minutes of Minutes of dialled calls and sent Minutes of

6 (-)10 (-)20 (+)20 Monthly service fee n Monthly service fee n Monthly service fee n Assuming 1 minute of a dialled call, sent message, call and message equals 0,10 cents where 100 cents is equivalent to 1 euro. n represents the compulsory monthly service fee. (-) represents the bonus amount of minutes at 0,10 cents each to be deducted from n. (+) represents the amount of minutes at 0,10 cents each to be added to n. USER A accumulates a bonus 1 of 1 euro. = (dialled sent ) - ( ) = 40 minutes - 30 minutes = 10 minutes X 0,10 cents = 1 euro USER B accumulates a bonus of 2 euros. = (dialled sent ) - ( ) = 60 minutes - 40 minutes = 20 minutes X 0,10 cents 1 If the customer earns several bonuses in a row, they (the bonuses) may be deducted at the end of a set period of W (say 6 months or a year) from the monthly bill or monthly service fee the user has to pay.

7 = 2 euros USER C pays 2 euros + n for the monthly bill. = (dialled sent ) - ( ) = 0 minutes - 20 minutes = 20 minutes X 0,10 cents = 2 euros Why the Talk is Cheap! mobile phone service concept over other competitors?/talk is Cheap! mobile phone service concept as a joint venture with other mobile phone service providers. In case the Talk is Cheap! mobile phone service comes onto the market as a competitor, it may get a pool of users (most likely young people within the age of who would wish to actively communicate more with their peers) from other mobile phone service providers who do not reward their users. Users subscribed to other service providers may not exactly be loyal to stick to their mobile service provider especially if they are in an open-end contract. Additionally, the fact that mobile users now have the right to retain their mobile number (including the code) if they are changing to another network, this too may easily enable the change from their current mobile phone service providers to the Talk is Cheap! mobile service concept in case they want their contacts to keep in touch with them on their old mobile number. It is also important to note that existing mobile phone service providers are not capitalizing on the community philosophy well enough. The Talk is Cheap! mobile phone service may also be used together with other mobile service providers or extended network(s) as there are clear results that

8 there are concluded and potential mergers of mobile phone service providers in Finland (Elisa), Scandinavia (TeliaSonera) and the EU in the near future. Selling the license(s) of the Talk is Cheap! business model to mobile phone service providers. How big is the company s target market? Basing on the age group figures of years of age in the table below ranging between potential users, I further elaborate them (the population figures) with more data (mostly financial information) as shown below to enable the necessary math.

9 According to the table above, the population of the age group between years of age is approximately over one million. This age bracket is roughly 20 % of the entire Finnish population. With that figure - give or take users - the overall estimate market could be in the range of users, assuming that all Finns in that age bracket own a mobile phone. It is also important to note the following: The market may expand further as some of their parents or teachers will join the network so as to affordably keep in touch with them. The time period that the users spend in the Talk is Cheap! mobile community also develops the market in

10 addition to other factors such as projected growth of the economy, population boom et cetera. The Talk is Cheap! mobile service concept can also be developed through out Europe.

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12 View the figures below for the statistics on outgoing short and outgoing mobile phone calls in and respectively.

13 Appendices Telecommunications 2006 Subscriber lines and subscriptions Fixed telephone subscriber lines For several years now the number of fixed telephone subscriber lines has been declining in Finland. During 2006, the number of subscriber lines contracted further and at the end of the year they totalled slightly over 1.9 million 36 subscriber lines per 100 population. The figure includes both conventional fixed telephone subscriber lines and ISDN subscriber lines converted to channels. ISDN channels accounted for 24 per cent of all fixed telephone subscriber lines. Excluding lines to public telephones, 65 per cent of all fixed telephone subscriber lines were in private household or leisure use and the remaining 35 per cent were used for other purposes, such as business and public sector. During 2006, the number of basic rate ISDN subscriber lines declined by a quarter from the previous year and at the end of the year they numbered approximately 96,000. The number of primary rate ISDN subscriber lines also fell and was just under 9,000 at the end of the year, whereas twelve months earlier they had totalled approximately 9,800. Good ten per cent of the basic rate ISDN subscriber lines were in household use. At the end of 2006, public telephones maintained by telecommunications operators numbered no more than 1,300. Mobile phone subscriptions In Finland, the number of mobile phone subscriptions exceeded that of fixed line ones as far back as at the end of the 1990s. The number of mobile phone subscriptions has grown yearly and this development continued also in As the number of fixed telephone lines continued to fall and that of mobile phone subscriptions kept going up, there were three times as many mobile phone subscriptions as fixed line ones at the end of 2006.

14 At the end of 2006, mobile phone subscriptions totalled nearly 5.7 million, equalling around 108 subscriptions per 100 population. Pre-paid subscriptions accounted for eight per cent of all mobile phone subscriptions. Around 22 per cent of all mobile phone subscriptions were in business use. Volume of services Volume in fixed telephone networks As in preceding years, the volume of telecommunications in fixed local networks contracted again from the previous year in Outgoing calls from local telephone networks numbered slightly under 1.3 billion and call minutes totalled nearly of 5.4 billion. Approximately 35 per cent of the outgoing calls were made from household subscriber lines, which accounted for 60 per cent of all call minutes. The share of the calls made from household subscriber lines has declined in recent years, because in 2004 nearly one-half, or 48 per cent, of the outgoing calls from local telephone networks were made from household subscriber lines (at that time calls made from household subscriber lines accounted for 62 per cent of all call minutes). Dial-up calls accounted for 16 per cent of all call minutes in In 2006, local calls made up 38 per cent, long-distance calls ten per cent, international calls two per cent and calls to mobile networks 27 per cent of the calls made from local telephone networks. Other calls, such as those to business numbers and nationwide service numbers accounted for 23 per cent of the calls. The distribution of call minutes by type of call was as follows: local calls accounted for 48 per cent, long-distance calls for ten per cent, international calls for three per cent and calls to mobile networks for 17 per cent of all call minutes. Other calls such as those to business numbers accounted for 22 per cent of the call minutes.

15 Volume in mobile networks In terms of both numbers and call minutes, the volume of outgoing calls from mobile telephones has grown from one year to the next in Finland. Outgoing calls from mobile phones already exceeded those from local telephone networks, i.e. fixed subscriber lines, as far back as in Although, on the average, the calls from fixed line subscriptions last longer than those from mobile phones, outgoing call minutes from mobile phones also exceeded those from local telephone networks, i.e. fixed subscriber lines, for the first time in As regards the total numbers of call minutes it should be noted that these statistics do not cover calls transmitted in IP networks and, consequently, not the total number of call minutes made from all networks either. In 2006, outgoing calls from mobile phones totalled nearly 4.5 billion and the total number of spoken call minutes was approximately 12.7 billion 72 per cent of the calls were made from private subscriptions, i.e. subscriptions in domestic use, and 28 per cent from corporate subscriptions (subscriptions in business use), while 71 per cent of the call minutes came from calls made from private subscriptions. Of the calls made from mobile phones, 83 per cent were to domestic mobile subscriber numbers, 15 per cent to domestic fixed line subscriber numbers and two per cent to international subscriber numbers, either fixed of mobile. The respective distribution of call minutes by direction of call was 84 per cent, 14 per cent and two per cent. Like the volume of outgoing calls from mobile phones, the numbers of text and multimedia also grew in 2006 from the previous year. In 2006, a total of approximately 3.1 billion text were sent, averaging 544 per subscription, while the respective figures in 2005 were slightly over 2.7 billion and 507 (including service requests in short message format, i.e. special SMS services subject to charge, such as ring tones, screen logos or news updates). The number of sent multimedia grew by 35 per cent from 2005 and totalled 21.6 million in 2006.

16 The total volume of packet-switched data transmission in mobile communications tripled from 2005 and amounted to just under 100,000 Gbps in Personnel and finances of telecommunications operators In 2006, telecommunications operators employed 14,487 persons, on the average, which is 12 per cent fewer than in 2005 when the respective figure was 16,385. The figure has been declining annually since The total turnover of telecommunications operators grew by six per cent from the previous year in 2006 and totalled slightly over EUR 4.5 billion. The total turnover from telephone communications in the fixed line network (local, long-distance and international telecommunications) declined, whereas that from mobile communications and other activities grew from The turnover generated by data transmission remained roughly on level with the previous year. In 2006, mobile communications accounted for 50 per cent of the total turnover of telecommunications operators. Most of this came from voice services, for non-voice services only generated 11 per cent of the turnover from mobile communications (i.e. around six per cent of the total turnover). The proportion of the turnover coming from telephone communications in the fixed line network has been diminishing in recent years and amounted to barely 13 per cent in Telecommunications operators 17 per cent of their turnover from data transmission, and approximately 35 per cent (i.e. six per cent of total turnover) of this originated from Consumer Internet (i.e. Internet services used by private customers including, among other things, installation, connection and opening charges, monthly fees and data security services). Approximately one-third of the turnover of other telecommunications activities (i.e. close on seven per cent of total turnover) came from sales of telecommunication machines and apparatus. Telecommunications operators investments in tangible assets contracted by around 10 per cent from the previous year in 2006 when they made investments to the total value of EUR 444 million, of which investments in telecommunication networks accounted for 86

17 per cent. The total value of their investments in telecommunication networks was EUR 380 million, which is five per cent more than in the year before. Production of and foreign trade in telecommunications equipment Measured in terms of both number of employees and total value of output, the branch of manufacturing producing telecommunications equipment developed favourably right up to the beginning of the 2000s, but a turning point came in 2001 when the total value of its output declined from the year before. The same trend continued in 2002 and 2003, when the number of persons employed by the branch also fell annually. In 2004 and 2005, the branch experienced positive development again, as both its number of employees and the total value of its output went up from the year before. Foreign trade in telecommunications equipment continued to grow right up to 2000, but then began to fall annually. In 2005, the value of foreign trade in telecommunications equipment began to go up again and in 2006 it remained roughly on level with In 2006, imports of telecommunications equipment accounted for 3.5 per cent of all imports and the share of the value of telecommunications exports of the total value of exports was 13.7 per cent. Source: Telecommunications 2006, Statistics Finland All quoted sources from Statistics Finland