Sky announces plans to enter mobile sector

[Scubbie]

https://corporate.sky.com/media-cent...-mobile-sector

Sky is set to add a range of mobile voice and data services to its customer offering for the first time following agreement of a new partnership with Telefónica UK.

Under the terms of the multi-year deal, Telefónica UK will give Sky wholesale access to 2G, 3G and 4G services over its popular nationwide network. Leveraging its market-leading capabilities in customer service and innovation, Sky plans to launch its first mobile telephony services to customers in 2016.

Sky’s move into the mobile sector builds on its success as the UK’s fastest-growing home communications business. Just seven years after launch, Sky has grown organically to number 2 in the home broadband market attracting more than 5 million customers with its offer of better choice and value. Sky has also established itself as the UK’s most popular triple-play provider with almost 40% of its customer base now taking all three of TV, telephony and broadband.

In addition, Sky has developed Europe’s leading mobile TV service in Sky Go. With 5.7 million registered users, Sky Go meets customers’ growing demand to watch content across multiple devices in and out of the home, offering a choice of up 70 live channels and a wide range of content On Demand, whenever and wherever customers want it.

Telefónica UK has an established track record in successful wholesale partnerships, supporting some of the UK’s leading MVNOs (mobile virtual network operators) including the number 1 player Tesco Mobile. Telefónica UK’s strong network credentials have helped its O2-branded service enjoy industry-leading customer satisfaction and are underpinned by a unique commitment to 98% 4G coverage by 2017.

Jeremy Darroch, Group Chief Executive, Sky said: “As the UK’s leading brand for home entertainment and communications, Sky has a proven ability to launch new services, at scale. We know our 11.5 million customers trust Sky to offer them the best quality and choice and have an appetite to take more from us. Through our partnership with Telefónica UK, we can build on our expertise in content, innovation and service to launch a range of exciting new services and exploit the opportunities for growth in the fast-changing mobile sector.”

Ronan Dunne, Chief Executive of Telefónica UK, said: “We’re pleased to welcome Sky to our roster of innovative, successful partnerships, through which we help partners grow their offer to customers. Sky understands the importance of a strong network and excellent customer experience and has made us a trusted partner to help deliver brilliant services. This will widen consumer choice still further and demonstrates the lively competitiveness of the UK market. We’re looking forward to working with Sky.”

[speedyrite]

thinkbroadband :: Sky announces plans to go quad play with mobile products

Sky is to join the ranks of UK mobile providers by virtue of a partnership deal with Telefónica UK (O2).

"We're pleased to welcome Sky to our roster of innovative, successful partnerships, through which we help partners grow their offer to customers. Sky understands the importance of a strong network and excellent customer experience and has made us a trusted partner to help deliver brilliant services. This will widen consumer choice still further and demonstrates the lively competitiveness of the UK market. We're looking forward to working with Sky."
Ronan Dunne, Chief Executive of Telefónica UK

This deal means that Sky will join EE, TalkTalk and Virgin Media who are all quad play now and if the BT and EE deal goes well then BT will be too. This deal follows hot on the heals of Three moving to pay £10 billion to buy O2 UK.
No news on specific products, those will come in good time, but given the aggressive free SIM and half price deals that TalkTalk customers enjoy we would expect a lot of competition. There has been worries that the mergers and buy-outs in the mobile market might lead to price rises, but it is possible that the retail level competition and bundling may drive prices down, though this might be at the expense of those who take services from a mixture of providers. In short, bundling of data, video and voice services is here to stay.

[Scubbie]

Certainly it will change the market a little.

With BT PLC in discussions to buy out EE and Three looking to purchase the O2 brand things are already changing. Now with Sky looking to get in on the Mobile market through O2, Three's potential purchase price just went up a little more.

As for the potential deals, this will certainly open things up.

I would expect any Sky Mobile customers to have instant access to The Cloud WiFi. 4G is apparently an important selling point for O2 but their overall coverage at this time isn't great.

Call minutes, number of texts and data plans these will be where someone needs to study the market properly before launch date. Getting the right combination at the right price is going to be important. So too will any potential deals.

I am sure that Sky will be looking to offer a combined deal with existing Sky services.

Handsets, MiFi and Dongles will also be important. What will Sky offer?

[speedyrite]

Don't forget that O2 offer "O2 Wifi" which is free to use by everybody.

[Scubbie]

Is O2's WiFi open to their wholesale suppliers such as Tesco?

[speedyrite]

Is O2's WiFi open to their wholesale suppliers such as Tesco?

Absolutely anybody can register to use O2 Wifi - doesn't matter whose network you are on. I've been on Three for nearly 2 years (previously on T-Mobile for about 3 years) and I've been using it for ages.

I don't know if they "wholesale" it to any other organisations, but my guess is probably not.