In short, all MNOs offering LTE 4G services need to be aware of the key five tariff trends identified by TCL and decide which pricing strategy to adopt when marketing their 4G service.
The latest edition of the unique TCL Global LTE Pricing Tariff Tracker subscription service, which covers the period for the 3rd Quarter of 2014, highlights the five new pricing trends being introduced by MNOs around the world as the market for high speed LTE 4G services begins to reach maturity.
The latest edition of the TCL Global LTE Pricing Tariff Tracker subscription service includes LTE 4G pricing from more MNOs than ever before. It now has pricing from 151 MNOs in 80 countries. The 3rd quarter 2014 edition includes pricing for recently launched LTE 4G services from the two Chinese operator China Telecom, China Unicom and Algerie Telecom, in the TCL Global LTE Pricing Tariff Tracker creating a unique guide to LTE 4G deployments worldwide.
From the LTE 4G pricing shown in the 3rd Quarter of 2014, TCL has been able to identify the following five key tariff trends:
- The continued development of new Pre Pay LTE 4G pricing – New Pre Pay LTE 4G services are being introduced. Everything Everywhere (EE) in the UK has introduced a Pre Pay EE 4G product for GBP £1 (Euro 1.27) per week coming in two variations either 25 minutes and 50 SMS or 100 MB, 10 minutes and 10 SMS. 25 minutes plus 50 SMS, or 100MB of data plus 10 minutes plus 10 texts. Also, Vodafone (UK) has also modified its Pre Pay 4G Freedom Freebie Packs, including the following tariffs:
Fig. 1 – A table showing the new Vodafone PrePay 4G Freedom Freebie Packs
Vodafone UK: FreebiePack GBP 20 (25.45 Euro) 2GB & 500 UK minutes, unlimited UK SMS & 200 reward points Vodafone UK: Red Freedom FreebiePack GBP 30 (38.18 Euro) 4 GB & Unlimited UK minutes, unlimited UK SMS & 300 reward points Vodafone UK: Red Freedom FreebiePack GBP 40 (50.90 Euro) 6 GB &Unlimited UK minutes, unlimited UK SMS & 300 reward points The GBP 30 and GBP 40 Vodafone Freedom FreebiePacks (4 GB & 6 GB) also include a choice of either Spotify music streaming service or the Sky Sports Mobile TV service. - The introduction of new entry level LTE 4G plans –Lower LTE 4G entry level pricing is being introduced. 3 (Denmark) offers an entry level rate of DK 79 (Euro 10.61 per month for 300 MB of data, 60 minutes and unlimited SMS/MMS in the 3 network. In Lebanon the two MNOs (Alfa and Touch) both offer an entry-level tariff of 500 MB per month for USD 11 (Euro 8.38) per month.
- The introduction of new “add on” LTE 4G services –Selected MNOs are offering a low cost add-on option for LTE 4G access. Examples include TIM (Italy) 4G Internet Plus, with LTE 4G speed available and for smartphone PC and tablet users for Euro 5 per month including 200 GB of TIM Cloud and Post Luxembourg with its Speed Boost available for smartphones, sticks and tablets for Euro 10 per month.
- The introduction of LTE 4G access across all plans – Selected MNOs are now introducing LTE 4G services as standard across all plans, with Belgacom (now called Proximus – Belgium) offering LTE 4G services across all Mobile Data plans, with speeds varying according to price point.
- An increase in LTE 4G data allowances – MNOs are increasing their data allowances in selected markets. Touch (Lebanon) has introduced a 1.5 GB data allowance (increased from 700 MB) for USD 19 per month and a top of the range 60 GB data allowance (increased from 30 GB) for USD 149 per month.
The latest edition of the TCL Global LTE Pricing Tariff Tracker also shows the spread of LTE 4G Smartphone pricing. The highest LTE 4G Smartphone pricing ranges from Euro Euro 285 per month (AT&T – USA), with the highest priced Smartphone LTE 4G packages – shown by TCL in the table below:
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Figure 2 – A bar chart showing the highest priced Smartphone LTE 4G packages worldwide
| Cost per month inEuros incl. tax | |
| AT&T USA | 285 (n1) |
| Vodafone Germany | 200 |
| Cosmote Greece | 200 |
| Claro Brazil | 183 |
| Sprint USA | 171 (n1) |
| NTTDOCOMo Japan | 164 |
| Zain Kuwait | 153 |
| Ooredoo Qatar | 151 |
| SFR France | 150 |
| Swisscom Switzerland | 140 |
| Movistar Peru | 132 |
Source – TCL (n1) Price excludes tax. Terms and conditions for each plan vary
To protect their premium price point AT&T (USA) for example, includes 100 Mbit/s access speed, a 50 GB data allowance, unlimited international messaging (to selected countries) and 50 GB of cloud storage and shared voice & messaging usage among registered family members.
Increasingly, MNOs are also introducing higher speed access LTE 4G services across all of their products. For example, Vodafone (Portugal) has introduced a 150 Mbit/s download access speed as standard across all of its services, as shown in the table below:
Figure 3 – A table showing Vodafone Portugal Vodafone On pricing (Cost per month including tax)
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