O2 moves into home phone market

The network says its launch is a significant development in O2’s strategy of placing itself at the heart of UK households and follows the successful establishment of itself as the quality player in the home broadband market. The service will launch in March.

The home phone service, will be available exclusively to its broadband customers, will allow O2 to further boost its share of the UK broadband market.

Sally Cowdry, UK marketing director at O2, says: “This is the most important launch for us in the home space since we entered the broadband market and is part of our strategy to evolve beyond mobile to a leading connectivity brand.

 “We know how many of our customers value the convenience of paying for their home phone and broadband together with no hidden extra costs, and we will be bringing the same commitment to quality of service with our home phone service as we have successfully established with broadband.”

Two home phone packages will be available to O2 Home Broadband customers.

Both packages include a wide range of services including Hide My Number, Last Caller ID, and Last Number Delete. A number of other services including Voicemail, Call Waiting, Caller Display, Call Barring and Ring Back will also be available as Bolt Ons for an additional monthly fee

Customers can text their home phone number to 61202, call 0800 954 1427 or visit http://broadband.o2.co.uk to check if they can get O2 Home Broadband and Home Phone. O2 Home Phone will be available through the same channels as O2 Home Broadband, including O2 stores, o2.co.uk, telesales as well as independent retailers such as Carphone Warehouse.

O2 recently told Marketing Week it is stretching its brand into healthcare, education and financial services as it seeks to bring great customer experiences to new sectors.

The strategy follows the successful launch of the O2 Money brand in August and could stretch across the footprint of O2’s owner Telefonica, which serves 260 million customers in 24 markets.