A Cat Amongst The Pigeons?

[Bambino]

I wonder how the other networks will respond to this?

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-49126035

[Glory1]

Good question @Bambino.  I would have thought, in order to compete with Three, they would either have to do the same or come up with some really fantastic deals; like offering unlimited data on 5G.

Amazed Three can afford to do it, considering the cost of the 5G rollout but I assume they think they'll make it all back as people flock to their network, as 5G will be charged as standard.

Good move on their part but it will be interesting to see what the other networks do, particularly O2, who are the last to roll out 5G. It does, however, give O2 time to see what the other networks do and how successful their offerings are.

Could be O2 are the wisest of the lot. They get to see how successful, or not, the other networks 5G offers play.

[Cleoriff]

It seems good on paper although people need to remember that they will need a 5G capable phone so that's a cost which hasn't been mentioned.

Though that's the same for all networks so it's a wait and see scenario I think.

I notice the article states O2 has yet to announce its pricing ...interesting.

[Anonymous]

I have a feeling this won't last long after they see the volume of traffic (and thus the associated costs).

However, the interesting thing about Three from a business point of view is that it's shareholder (CK Hutchison Holdings) is a huge Hong Kong conglomerate with interests including ports, retail and infrastructure so it has extensive financial resources which it can use to sustain price wars should it wish to, the other players in the market make their money purely from telecom operations so their pockets aren't as deep.

I think Hutchison will underpin this one just to try and drive customer acquisition as it's probably still smarting a bit from being blocked from buying O2.

[Glory1]

Yes, @Cleoriff the cost of a 5G capable phone definitely has to be added to the mix. And they won't be cheap, I expect.

As for O2, I expect they are waiting to see how successful, or not, the other networks are with their 5G offers before they say anything. Will they be competitive: doubt it they rarely are. Expensive: you betcha 

[Glory1]

Good point @Anonymous, something I didn't realise. So maybe Three have something, the other networks can't offer after all. I'll be watching it all with interest to see how it plays out.

[jonsie]

Just maybe they will undercut the other networks on the cost of 5G phones too.Anything that brings costs down to the customer has to be welcomed whatever the strategical thinking or motives behind Three's implementations.

[Anonymous]

It's certainly going to be interesting but whether it still performs as well as it's meant to when the majority of an operator's customer base is using it will be the most interesting thing for me.

With 3g and 4g it's been heavily marketed but people have then complained about the coverage and speed when it has become mainstream.

Let's hope they have learnt from this and are installing enough base stations to cope with the load and provisioning enough backhaul from them and out to the 'net to avoid bottlenecks.

The difficulty is of course that by definition the customer is on the move so there will always be somewhere where demand will exceed supply at some point.

I wouldn't want to be a mobile network planner that's for sure!

[Anonymous]

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@jonsie wrote:

Just maybe they will undercut the other networks on the cost of 5G phones too.Anything that brings costs down to the customer has to be welcomed whatever the strategical thinking or motives behind Three's implementations.

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Maybe they won't have to @jonsie  as after all, a good proportion of the mobile contract buying public are happy to buy phones on what is a finance agreement that retail at £1000+

I would spend that on a PC but the hardware I buy lasts a good few years.

[pgn]

Sounds like a race to the bottom...

(with the odd roast sparrow thrown in!)