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The Portuguese telecommunications regulator (ANACOM) has often criticized the country’s three main mobile operators of playing too gentlemanly a game. While the launch of 3G networks has heated up competition in the past few months, for the most part the corporate segment remains a picture of service and price parity. One of the few areas of differentiation is the operators’ ability to offer fixed-mobile bundled services—Vodafone is a clear leader in this area. Pyramid Research expects the expansion of converged solutions to become a more important differentiator in the companies’ mobile corporate portfolios.
Vodafone has emerged as the clear leader in bundling corporate products. It is a retail reseller of PT’s fixed network, but can also bypass PT´s network altogether by linking with a company’s communications infrastructure and connecting the service to its own network through Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) technology. Vodafone owns a 24.5–26.5 GHz license to permit this exchange. In zones where it does not have FWA coverage, Vodafone can also link a cable or fiber optic connection to its network. Finally, Vodafone also offers ADSL and ISDN broadband connections to its corporate customers, always bundling its offers with mobile services. Meanwhile, neither PT nor Sonaecom offer bundled fixed and mobile solutions for their clients.
Vodafone’s presence in the fixed Portuguese market is actually one of the first steps that the company is taking in fixed-mobile convergence. Additional efforts include limited mobility services in Germany and Hungary. Despite these offerings, Vodafone remains committed to building convergence around mobile networks. Its global effort remains on improving customer retention and making 3G services a success, both in the corporate and non-corporate segments.
Pyramid Research believes that increasing local loop unbundling will facilitate the entrance of mobile attackers into PT´s datacoms turf, although the high price of setting up these links will prevent a broader move into residential markets. For now, the operators are busy launching 3G and making new products available to the corporate user. However, further down the line, bundled offers and converged products will play an increasingly important role due to the conveniences of having a one-stop corporate shop, customized data solutions, improved functionality, and savings from an integrated communications system. Ultimately, the Sonaecom and PT groups will be likely to follow Vodafone’s lead, aligning the strategies of their fixed and mobile corporate offerings much closer than they presently do.
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Related Resources:
Portugal Mobile Forecast
Portugal Country Outlook
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