easyMobile says BYO cellphone
posted August 11th 2004 9:28AM
Being the completely closed-minded, xenophobic Americans that we are, we weren't all that interested in the news
that budget-everything company easyGroup was starting a new low-cost wireless carrier called easyMobile in a bunch of
European countries (they're actually just leasing space on other carriers' networks). That is until we heard that they
were doing something a little unusual: unlike pretty much every other carrier, they aren't going to sell cellphones.
Instead they're only going to offer SIM cards, and subscribers have to either buy their own phone or make sure that
their current handset is unlocked and compatible with easyMobile's service. Not having to subsidize handsets could make
it possible for them to offer cheaper rates, but last time we checked switching carriers to get a good deal on a new
phone had become something of a time-honored tradition.
[Via TechDirt]
they're also facing a court case over their use of a "potentially confusing" orange logo....
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/click/rss/0.91/public/-/1/hi/business/3553640.stm
you should know that it's not at all that unusual to sell separate sim cards in europe. every operator does it, only a few lock in a cell phone as well. actually, here in belgium, it is illegal to lock-in a phone with a sim card, because it is considered "couple sales" which is an illegal trade practice ....
Hello !!! This is nothign new in Europe. There's been plenty of service providers doing exactly the same thing for more than 3 years !! The company i work for has been doing this for 2 years in Sweden and almost the same length of time in Norway and Finland. There's also companies in France, UK, Germany, Denmark...
Ok as you're american you probably don't like to admit that we may be a little bit (OK a lot) ahead of you guys when it comes to Mobile (or as you say cellular) technology and networks and service offerings. Hey we even get number porting for free !!!!!!!!!!!11
Yeah, but a carrier that doesn't sell ANY phones at all? That is still relatively unusual, whether you lot want to admit that or not. Take a closer look at what I'm actually trying to say here.
Wake up America, the rest of the world has moved to the BYO phone model years ago. Who wants to be locked into a phone contract for 2 years?
But the point I was making was that Easy will not be the carrier..it's a MVNO..(Mobile Virtual Network Operator)..we got loads of them..I work for one !!! We buy airtime and minutes wholesale from the network providers and resell it just with the SIM card... so no tie ins..no hassles..and cheaper rates as we don't have to subsidise the handsets !
Basically they are not even a MVNO, but a Discount Mobile service Provider..
(which basically is a new breed of MVNO's and Service Provider combined)
EasyGroup will only lend it' brand to TDC
(Largest Dansih Operator) who will use the EasyXXX Brand in their marketing.
Stellios and Easy get a cut of the profit
http://www.ctia.org/news_media/wireless_newslines/press_release.cfm?press_id=6198