[LINK] Cheaper mobile plans with ads

[Richard Chirgwin]

Geez, I'm going to sound like a broken record, but ...

It's a niche and will be so forever. Revenue-wise, advertising is a flea 
compared to telecomms; these sorts of services will never get beyond 
gimmick status.

(Personally, I'd pay rather than watch the ads; and there are other ways 
to get cheap communications.)

RC

stephen at melbpc.org.au wrote:
> Cheap mobile deal to serve up ads
> Asher Moses August 26, 2008 - 2:35PM
>
> http://www.theage.com.au/news/athome/cheap-mobile-deal-to-serve-up-
> ads/2008/08/26/1219516449331.html
>
> An Australian telco has announced new mobile plans that cost users less 
> than half the usual price as long as they are willing to view 
> advertisements.
>
> ComTel, which operates on the Vodafone network, will market the plans 
> under the SMSPup brand and claims it is the country's first advertising 
> subsidised mobile phone service.
>
> Advertising already supports newspapers, magazines and free-to-air 
> television. Australian telcos have in the past tried to offer ad-supported 
> home internet plans as well but none gained sufficient traction.
>
> On a regular ComTel mobile plan without advertising, post-paid customers 
> pay $29 a month for $130 worth of calls and messages.
>
> Under the new plans, if they are willing to accept five advertising 
> messages a day the price is slashed to $10 a month.
>
> "The advertising will be a combination of SMS and MMS ads or email to your 
> home internet address," ComTel COO Paul McFadden said.
>
> "When a customer applies we ask them a series of questions about areas of 
> interest, and where we think mobile advertising will be really relevant is 
> matching people's interests to the ads."
>
> McFadden said he did not believe the ads were intrusive or annoying. He 
> said customers were not bound by a contract and could switch to the more 
> expensive ad-free plan at any time.
>
> Mark Novosel, telecommunications analyst at IDC Australia, said he 
> expected the plans would appeal to the teen market but under 18s would be 
> unable to sign up due to the lack of a pre-paid option.
>
> "They're essentially cutting off their main potential target market," he 
> said.
>
> "As you get beyond 18, people will be less interested in having to put up 
> with advertising in order to get the calls for free."
>
> In launching the new venture, ComTel was inspired by the British service 
> provider Blyk, which unveiled similar plans about September last year and 
> claims to have picked up about 100,000 new customers since then.
>
> Unlike the local plans, Blyk's advertisers covered the entire cost of the 
> plans. McFadden said this was not yet possible locally without exposing 
> customers to a barrage of ads.
>
>
> --
> Cheers people
> Stephen Loosley
> Victoria, Australia
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