T-Mobile Netherlands has unveiled new postpaid plans, in the wake of new offers from rivals KPN and Vodafone. The new plans take effect from 15 August. The most important change is that new customers will now need to pay extra for unlimited internet (with or without speed limitations) and that call credit no longer has unlimited validity. T-Mobile CEO Bart Weijermars said already earlier that mobile internet price increases were needed in order to pay for investments in increasing capacity on the mobile network.
What’s changing in comparison with T-Mobile’s old offers? The Relax plans, which had already undergone substantial changes, such as per-minute billing and limits on ‘unlimited’ internet, will be replaced with Smart Start and Smart Plus. Both still charge by the minute, but the bundle is now valid for only two months.
Smart Start still has a number of similarities with the old Relax plans, with nearly the same prices and minutes (although fewer options). Bundle units can still be used for calls, SMS, MMS or data, with the main difference the limited validity. The operator still offers a data add-on with the Sim-only plans, at EUR 14.95 for 800MB plus EUR 4.95 to keep an ‘unlimited’ connection at a reduced speed and another EUR 10 per month to restore the full speed. Previously the add-on cost EUR 9.95, with the speed cut after 1GB and an extra EUR 5 to bring it back to full speed.
Smart Plus, similar to the old Relax offers including the unlimited internet option, offers a standard data bundle included, starting at 250MB and going up to 1GB from a 420-minute monthly plan. Previously this was unlimited data with a fair use of 1GB, after which the speed was cut. The same options of EUR 4.95 for maintaining data access and EUR 10 for restoring the speed are offered with Smart Plus. Prices for Smart Plus are in general somewhat higher than the Relax plans with unlimited internet but with slightly more minutes included.
The old i subscriptions have become the iSmart plans. Prices and minutes included are the same, as well as the per-second billing after the first minute. The most important change is ‘unlimited’ internet is no longer included, although the old plans were still subject to fair use of 1GB. iSmart comes with 500MB on the cheapest plan and 1GB with the other options, but after reaching the limit customers pay EUR 0.10 per MB. The same charges for maintaining access and speed apply as well.
A comparison with the new plans from Vodafone and KPN shows that:
- Low-volume data users can choose to pay per MB (EUR 1.50 with KPN Personal Bel + SMS) or for a bundle: T-Mobile EUR 14.95 for 800 MB per month or Vodafone Internet Blox for EUR 9.50 for 200MB.
- KPN is the only one to charge by the second (after the first minute) in all three of its new postpaid ranges. Vodafone offers per-second billing with the Bel+SMS and Bel+SMS+WebSmart plans, while Bel+SMS+Web charges by the minute. T-Mobile similarly charges by the second with the iSmart plans.
- T-Mobile’s iSmart plans, comparable to Vodafone Bel+SMS+Web and KPN’s Personal Sim Bel-SMS-WebXL, offer a higher speed than at Vodafone. KPN offers the same download speed but a higher upload speed. KPN offers 7.2 Mbps down and 2.0 Mbps up, T-Mobile is at 7.2 Mbps down and 0.8 Mbps up, and Vodafone offers 3.6 Mbps down and 0.4 Mbps up. In terms of prices and minutes, T-Mobile and Vodafone are practically the same, although customers get more data at T-Mobile. KPN is a few euros more expensive (EUR 5-8) and offers fewer minutes and/or data. KPN only offers more data than T-Mobile from a monthly plan at EUR 60.
- Vodafone’s Bel+SMS+WebSmart is the only package that allows for use of included minutes, SMS and data both in the Netherlands and abroad (in so-called Passport countries) and it also offers a speed of 14.4Mbps.
Mobile operators’ revenues are under pressure, both from regulatory intervention and changes in consumer behavior. They can’t see another way out apart from price increases, which they say are needed in order to continue investment in their networks. What’s remarkable is that all the operators are going in the same direction rather than trying to set themselves apart. This leaves competition limited, and the market waiting for Tele2, UPC or Ziggo to introduce some change. For the moment, consumers, especially heavy data users, will be forced to pay more in order to continue using mobile internet in the same way. Either that or start using Wi-Fi more actively.
