Vodafone Passport advertised on Lastminute.com newsletter

By on August 16, 2006 in Operators

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I’ve been receiving the Lastminute.com newsletter almost the moment it started all those years ago prior to the heady dotcom days.  This week I spotted a smart ad on it from Vodafone, telling the readers all about their Passport service (75p per call internationally). 

Very good ad placement I reckon. You can see it bottom right on the screenshot.

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Ewan is Founder and Editor of Mobile Industry Review. He writes about a wide variety of industry issues and is usually active on Twitter most days. You can read more about him or reach him with these details.
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  • shawpy

    Sad.

    Vodafone and all of the other MNO’s are going to have to take heed of the European Commission actions on reducing roaming charges (which in my opinion are quite high = exhorbitant). Having checked the Vodafone ‘passport’ I see they levy a 64p charge for connection (call it 1 euro), I suppose this is a legal move to cover themselves when the EU want to put a ceiling on the per minute roaming costs.

    The EU think that calling home (to the UK) from abroad should only cost 0.49 euro per minute. The EU will definitely get this roaming rip off sorted and (for sure) the mobile customer will be the winner. http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/roaming/docs/flashnote_en.pdf

    I quote from Viviane Reding (EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media) “For years, mobile roaming charges have remained unjustifiably high. We are therefore tackling one of the last borders within Europe’s internal market”

    What I see from the Vodafone passport is a very short term measure to keep roaming profits coming in.

    Dear MNO’s (mobile network operators), beware. Your inflated margins are going to be hit, not only on roaming but also on SMS (IP messaging hitting you), voice – mobile VOIP will eat into your sector. And the fact that the internet is sprouting so many social networks that can be mobilised, they represent a passionate customer base that will definitely follow the community they have joined, which means your customers will cease to be your customers (even though you think you own them since you bill their cellphone). These customers will be more loyal to their social network as they TRUST them more than you.

    In less than 5 years, the customer relationship between vendor/service and end user will be dominated by the social network that the vendor participates in. Not by how many call centre seats they have.

    Ok, Ewan, I have had my say. Speak with you soon. :0)

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