The deal is subject to regulatory approvals.

Waterland specializes in a “buy-and-build” strategy, acquiring and consolidating businesses. It was established in 1999 and has its headquarters in Bussum, Netherlands. Waterland manages over €14 billion in investments and operates across 13 offices in 11 countries.

Waterland has promised a seamless transition and continued growth and stated:

“Lebara’s strategic positioning as a value-focused challenger brand in the mobile SIM markets presents significant growth opportunities as consumers across Europe increasingly seek high-quality services at competitive prices. Lebara’s strong track record across its five markets demonstrates its ability to grow and adapt, making it a prime candidate for further expansion.

“Waterland has 25 years of experience in partnering with companies across Europe and brings extensive experience in the telecommunications sector through investments over that time. With this acquisition, Waterland aims to support Lebara’s growth ambitions in each of its markets.”

Wendy McMillan, Partner at Waterland Private Equity, added:

“We are thrilled to partner with Lebara and its talented management team. Lebara has built a strong brand and loyal customer base by providing high-quality mobile telecommunications services at competitive prices. We look forward to working closely with the management team to continue on Lebara’s growth journey together, leveraging our expertise in the telecommunications sector.”

Lebara CEO Stephen Shurrock said:

“We are excited to join forces with Waterland Private Equity. Their extensive experience and successful track record in the telecommunications industry make the Waterland team an ideal partner for us.

“This partnership will provide us with the resources and strategic support needed to accelerate our growth and enhance our service offerings, ultimately benefiting our customers across all our markets. It has also been our pleasure to work with Alchemy and Triton over the last few years. They have been hugely supportive of the Lebara turnaround and have invested in the company to achieve significant growth. Lebara now has the latest digital platform, a focus on customer experience, and a strong team to continue its growth story.”

O2 has the best subscriber perks says an analysis of network incentives by comparison site uSwitch

Opt for the O2 SIM only £6 per month 4GB deal and take advantage of all of the perks on offer, and the perks will be worth £1,102.44. This is a 665.58 per cent profit on the total contract amount over two years.

Unlike the UK’s other top providers,U USwitch says O2 customers can benefit from perks that renew each week says comparison site USwtch. These include a free weekly Greggs’s coffee, sausage roll and breakfast roll. You also get the chance to bag a free weekly Odeon cinema ticket throughout a contract.

Whilst free Apple TV and Peloton subscriptions are on offer in the first three months, there are larger perks available too.

Users can redeem a free 43″ £529 Bravia TV if they buy or take out a contract deal on a Sony Xperia 1 IV or 5 IV, this week with the TV. Whilst some perks require an initial spend, the return could still see consumers benefiting.

“The total value of all O2 perks is £2,135.67. Over 24 months, customers could be earning £699.23, once they’ve factored in contract costs and the cost required to redeem some of the perks”, says uSwitch.

*Cost of perks without weekly deals (e.g. O2 Greggs coffee)

O2 PERKS HOLD VALUE MORE THAN ANY OTHER NETWORK

Lebara, iD mobile and giffgaff offer a range of one-month rolling contracts and one-off perks that can be redeemed in the first month of a contract.

In the first month, a new user could be benefitting from perks worth 2335.3% of the cost of a Lebara SIM-only contract. But once the perks have been used, they depreciate, making contracts less profitable and, in some cases not profitable, over 24 months.

 Lebara’s perks amount to £92.24. So, in the first month, perks on offer for Lebara’s 1GB one-month plan for £3.95 a month are worth 2335.3 per cent more than the contract cost. After two years the contract cost will amount to £90.06, meaning perks will only be worth £2.18.

O2 offers a range of deals, including weekly, monthly and one-off, and customers’ perks are guaranteed to be valued at at least 130.3 per cent after two years, for higher priced contracts such as O2 SIM only unlimited contract for £35 a month. Lower priced contracts like O2 SIM only 15GB for £8 a month, value perks as much as 582.5 per cent after two years.  O2 customers are always guaranteed, over the length of their contract to make a profit from the perks on offer, says USwitch.

Three’s perks are worth £257.08 overall when factoring in the cost of the contract. Three offers several high-value deals to their customers which are mainly one-off perks, including 50 per cent off Moonpig, 30 per cent off Molton Brown and £10 off UberEats.

Perks after 12 months for Three’s SIM only 3GB £5 a month contract will be worth 549.8per cent of the contract cost. The perks included with the O2 SIM only £6 per month 4GB deal are worth over double that at 1,256.7 per cent of the cost of the O2 contract.

 Vodafone’s customers can earn up to £206.08 in their first month, Perks include a half-price Wine52 order, three months free Spotify Premium and £30 off a Haven Holiday, among many other deals.

]]> https://mobilenewscwp.co.uk/news/article/o2-top-network-freebies-says-uswitch/feed/ 0 https://mobilenewscwp.co.uk/news/article/uswitch-three-million-customers-save-switching-sim/ https://mobilenewscwp.co.uk/news/article/uswitch-three-million-customers-save-switching-sim/#respond Thu, 07 Apr 2022 13:10:38 +0000 https://mncwp.tailrd.cloud/uswitch-three-million-customers-save-switching-sim/ Out-of-contract customers are overpaying on pay-monthly rolling mobile contracts that costs 430 per cent more than the best value SIM-only offers

Former O2 Group sales director Ben Dowd has returned to the telecoms industry as Lebara’s chief commercial officer.

The move reunites Down with his old running mate at O2 Stephen Shurrock who was appointed CEO of Lebara two years ago.

Shurrock spent 15 years working for O2 Telefonica in various positions such as CEO of Telefonica Digital Services, CEO O2 Ireland and Sales Director of O2 UK.

Dowd returns to the industry after departing Onecom in October 2020, where he was CEO.

He confirmed his new role at the MVNO in a LinkedIn post, revealing he joined Lebara in September initially on an interim basis.

Founded in 2001, Lebara specialises in providing cheap international and national call rates.

An industry veteran, Dowd spent over 15 years at O2 in various senior roles.

Prior to this he worked for BT Cellnet (which would later rebrand to O2) for just over six years.

MVNOs are a key part of the Vodafone business, says its director of strategy and wholesale Vishal Dixit.

This comes after the operator strengthened its long-term partnership with Lebara Mobile through an exclusive three-and-a-half-year deal earlier this month.

The extended partnership means that Lebara Mobile customers will now be able to access Vodafone’s 5G service, which is available in 129 UK towns and cities, along with 4G calling, which launched earlier this year.

Lebara Mobile is the operator’s oldest UK MVNO partner, having been on the Vodafone network since 2007.

Dixit says the fresh contract reflects how significant MVNOs are to the mobile network operator.

“We see MVNOs as an important part of the UK mobile market,”he says.

Choice

“They provide choice to customers, and in many areas they work in specific customer segments where the main telco brands don’t have the best reach or awareness.

“Our strategy is very much that MVNOs are a complementary part of our overall business. We are actively in discussions with various MVNOs that are not yet partners. At the same time, we’re seeking to renew and extend partnership terms with our long-standing partners.”

Vodafone’s staple of MVNOs includes Voxi, Talkmobile and Virgin Mobile, with these partnerships critical for challenging EE, adds Dixit.

“Our network strategy within the UK is to be one of the top two high- quality networks, really challenging the incumbent, which is BT/EE. To support this we need good scale, so therefore it’s very important for us to have healthy, successful MVNOs also on our network.”

Smaller providers were the big winners at the Uswitch Mobile Awards as giffgaff was named Network of the Year.

Asda Mobile took the Best Network for Customer Service award and Smarty won Best Pay-As-You-Go Network.

The awards recognise elegance in the mobile industry and were voted for by more than 17,000 consumers as well as a judging panel of experts in the fields of technology, consumer affairs, and personal finance.

Another smaller provider, Lebara, was named Best Value SIM Only.

Apple beat Samsung to be named Manufacturer of the year and also scooped Handset of the Year for the iPhone 12 Pro Max – one of the company’s first 5G enabled devices.

Samsung did win the Telecoms Innovation Award for the Galaxy Z Fold2 5G.

Three took home top spot for Most Popular Mobile Network. The operator also claimed the Best Network for Data award and came out on top for roaming.

O2 won Best Network Coverage for its reliable reception,

Sky Mobile won the awards for Best Value Pay Monthly and Best Pay Monthly network.

Meanwhile, Three also scored the Best SIM Only Network and EE scooped the prize for Fastest Mobile Network.

Apple was named High Street Retailer of the Year.

Uswitch.com telecoms expert Ernest Doku commented on the results: “Over the last year we’ve relied more than ever on our mobile phones for work, entertainment and to keep in touch with our loved ones.

“giffgaff has won a place in consumers’ hearts with its no-nonsense business model, and it fully deserves its Network of the Year award.

“Once again Apple has taken home the Handset of the Year award, with the iPhone 12 Pro Max showing off a quality camera, stylish design and 5G for the first time.

“The absence of one provider sweeping the board at our awards this year shows how competitive the UK mobile market is, and also demonstrates what each network has to offer in the various categories.”

CTech Group has launched a new line of SIM-only contracts aimed at retailers that sell a large amount of SIM-free devices.

With the new product line, retailers will be able to offer a range of tariffs from mobile providers including Three, Vodafone and Lebara, with CTech Group also in talks with more networks.

The product line has been launched on the Argos website, with plans to roll it out to other retailers.

CTech Group is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) business that specialises in helping retailers sell services alongside hardware – for example, SIM-only offerings with SIM-free phones or TVs with home broadband.

CTech Group CEO Ashley Bailey says the new solution is more convenient for customers when buying SIM-only products.

“After 12 months of integrating with the networks, the new service enables retailers to deliver a seamless experience for the customer, with the SIM-only products being available via next-day delivery, pick up in-store or click and collect,” says Bailey.

Bailey adds that customers are becoming more aware of SIM-only plans as an alternative to long-term contracts.

“The consumer mindset has changed, with people looking to reduce their monthly spend and instead going for SIM-only contracts,” he says.

“Consumers are getting smarter and are more price-sensitive. Ten years ago, we didn’t have price-comparison websites and these have shown people how to save money.”

MVNO Lebara has been sold to private Swiss investment group Palmarium for an undisclosed amount.

The founders of Lebara have left and the MVNO will be led by ex-Virgin Mobile MD Graeme Oxby who was most recently running Liberty Global’s European operation.

Lebara piggybacks on the Vodafone network, and was set up in 2001. It claims to have a customer base of more than 3.5 million subscribers around the world with an emphasis on Sri Lanka and India.

Oxby was managing director of both Virgin Mobile and Three but it is thought unlikely that Lebara will move to another network host.

Lebara is Vodafone’s biggest MVNO and the renewal of the latest extension to a five-year contract has not run its course.

Ethnic MVNO Lebara has appointed former Ingram Micro Europe employee Karen Griffiths as its new chief financial officer.

The announcement was made today (February 23). Her previous position before joining the MVNO was chief financial officer at security specialist Acision. She was most notably Ingram Micro Europe CFO between 2001 and 2008, which saw her based in Brussels. Mobile News has contacted Lebara for more information about the new appointment.

Lebara Group CEO Yoganathan Ratheesan said: “Karen brings with her a wealth of valuable experience that will ensure we can continue to serve the needs of the global migrant community, enabling more families, friends and colleagues to connect both at home and abroad.”

Asda has launched a new prepay service which allows the UK’s migrant community to call friends and family living abroad for as little as 1p per minute.

The British retailer created the product, called Asda call time, in partnership with American VoiP specialist IDT Corporation. It is available to purchase in over 600 stores nationwide, with a choice of cards preloaded with £5, £10 or £20 worth of credit. New customers will get 50p to trial the service.

Asda claims there are no additional fees, contracts or expiry dates associated with call time. To enable it, subscribers simply register their purchased cards to the mobile number they want to use it with. They then must dial an access code each time they want to make an overseas call. Further top ups can be made over the phone or at an Asda till point.

The service will compete with similar offerings from Lycamobile and Lebara. Both also offer international calling as cheap as 1p per minute to selected countries. However, unlike Asda, they have various additional data bundles and 30 day plans.

Migrants make up more than a quarter of the UK’s total population. According to the most recent figures from the House of Commons, at least 14 million of the UK’s 64 million residents originate from overseas.

Asda project manager Ashley Johnson said: “Asda is excited to offer our customers a convenient and affordable way to call international destinations, with no hidden fees or charges. Minutes and credit never expire.

“Through our partnership with IDT, Asda Call time enables our customers to stay in touch with friends and loved ones no matter where they are in the world.”