EE reveals ‘small premium’ in 4G pricing

EE’s soon to be launched “superfast” 4G tariffs will come at a “small” premium compared to the average price consumers currently pay for their monthly contracts, but will include added media extras, the company has revealed.

EE Brand Video

The mobile company, which also offers the Orange and T-Mobile brands alongisde EE, will offer personal customers unlimited calls, texts and a limited 4G data allowance from £36 a month – around £5 more than comparable packages, which currently only offer 3G speeds.

The most expensive package, for an allowance of 8GB, will be charged at £56 a month.

In addition, EE 4G customers will also receive extra benefits including EE Film, which apes the company’s existing Orange Wednesdays two-for-one cinema offer but also includes the ability to download or stream one film each week for free from “the biggest catalogue of [digital] movies” via their compatible mobile devices. It will be powered by movie on demand service FilmFlex.

It is understood there are no plans for Orange Wednesdays to discontinue in the near future as both the Orange and T-Mobile brands will continue to operate alongside EE for the time being.

EE will also leverage the Orange brand’s partnership with music streaming service Deezer to provide customers with access to 18 million tracks. A live mobile television service with 19 channels will also roll out further down the line as part of the package, as well as deals on insurance and international roaming.

Marc Allera, EE’s sales director, told Marketing Week while the 4G network’s pricing does have “a small element of premium” it has been designed to be as “simple” as possible to ensure EE gets as many people using it as soon as possible to meet its undisclosed Christmas acquisition target.

He admitted EE has a “job to do” to explain to the average consumer that 4G is a superfast internet experience, but the company hopes the additional benefits on top of voice, calls and data will help demonstrate speed benefits in an easy to understand way.

“We are most excited about [the possibilities of] video and film on 4G. If you look at the US 4G market and talk to Facebook and YouTube, the thing that really kicked off 4G was video on mobile,” he added.

EE has also revealed the pricing for its new consumer fixed-line fibre broadband network, which it says will offer speeds up to 10 times faster than the UK average connection. Plans start from £15 per month and will include off-peak calls and a free router. The plan is subject to line rental of £14 per month and a £50 connection fee.

The company will begin to advertise the new services when they launch on 30 October, by which time all of its 700 Orange, T-Mobile and Everything Everywhere stores will have been rebadged with the new EE brand. It has already begun to contact existing Orange and T-Mobile customers via post, email, text and in-store to alert them to the new network and inform them how to swap over.

A TV ad is set to air from 3 November, alongside other marketing activity as part of EE’s multimillion pound launch campaign.

EE was handed a march on its rival operators to launch the first 4G network in the UK after Ofcom agreed to let it use its existing 2G spectrum for its new services, rather than having to wait for next year’s spectrum auction. Its competitors are preparing a raft of counter marketing campaigns later this month as they look to deflect attention away from EE’s launch.

Recommended

The Youth 100 list

Josie Allchin

Brand % Like % Love Total % of love & like YouTube 40 55 95 Wikipedia 37 56 93 Cadbury’s 37 55 92 Google 39 52 91 BBC 54 35 89 Skype 51 37 88 Doritos 43 44 87 Boots 62 25 87 Amazon 42 44 86 Cancer Research 43 42 85 H&M 49 35 […]