3 sets low monthly line rental price with new £9-per-month tariff
£9-per-month tariff and six-month deals for prepay users
3 has set a new low watermark in monthly line rental prices with a new £9-per-month tariff to entice prepay customers onto contract tariffs.
Combined with a new six-month contract (see box), it marks 3’s strategy to tap into consumers looking to tighten their belts and attract customers accustomed to prepay.
A 3 spokesman said: ‘You see prices turn to cashback, which does not necessarily return to the customer. High prices don’t necessarily work for the industry.’
The £9-per-month deal, billed as ‘the first single-digit mobile tariff in Britain’, offers 100 cross-network minutes, or 100 texts and 300 3-to-3 calls per month, free voicemail, Windows Live Messenger and Skype access.
Customers that sign up to the 18-month contract will also receive a free 3G Sony Ericsson K660i.
The operator has continually neglected the prepay market other than with small sporadic offers such as its INQ and Skype phones. It believes there aren’t many affordable 3G handsets for the prepay market, and that the prepay market is too vulnerable to box breaker abuse.
3 sales and marketing director Marc Allera said: ‘Delivering value to consumers has always been a priority, that’s why we’re the first and only mobile network to try to take the worry out of at least one bill a month with 3’s first-ever £9 tariff. The current economic climate means that we’re more committed than ever to finding ways to pass savings onto customers.’
The operator said while the move is about acquisition, it is also about retaining customers who are looking to cut their monthly expenditure.