Orange Launches an Unlimited Service Facebook Phone

   
While the French government once said that OTTs should pay for networks usage(here), its biggest carrier, Orange, is now offering new “affordable" phones with un-limited access to Facebook.

Orange announced ".. Three new phones with deep Facebook integration .. simple, affordable, social phones for under €100 to a broader range of customers in more than 15 countries ..  Facebook’s social capabilities run through every feature of these phones, from the camera to contacts with the dedicated ‘F’ key allowing instant uploading and interaction. Orange customers can also purchase these handsets with affordable bundles and tariffs that include unlimited Facebook access without extra data charges".

Compare this to the Movistar Colombia- in which Facebook is a premium service (here) - both MNOs are trying to set a low-cost entry point - Movistar with "old/simple" applications and Orange with a very attractive one. Probably both hoping to see the customers upgrading and using the other services or consume more.

See "Orange launches widest range of exclusive affordable phones with dedicated Facebook® functionality in Africa and Europe" - here.

Recent Trends in Policy Control [Part 2] (with examples)

 

This part is dedicated to a recent article by Graham Finnie (picture), Chief Analyst, Heavy Reading, covering "new pricing ideas I've been compiling in connection with Heavy Reading's research on policy management".

See "Mobile Data Packaging: A Policy-Driven Revolution?"  - here.

Graham lists the following cases:

• Movistar Colombia has created five mobile data packages, including one that offers only email, one just for IM, one for social networks – all at low price points.
   
  
• Saudi Telecom Co. (STC) has built a "prayer time" offer, enabling subscribers to block access to the Internet, or to specific IP-based applications (video, chat, voice, gaming, etc.) during prayer times.
   
  
• Poland's Play increased bandwidth, removed volume limits and removed restrictions on P2P traffic between midnight and 9 a.m.
   
  
• Russia's MegaFon [See "MegaFon Deployed Cisco ASR-5000 for Service Personalization" - here] offers unlimited access to some URLs, event-based charging and varying speeds based on protocol and usage profile.
   
  
• In Kuwait, Zain Group (see "Zain Kuwait Prepares for Fair Use Policy" -  here) offers two contrasting prepaid data packages -- one for customers on limited budgets with a low connection speed, and one for those who are mainly looking for occasional high-speed access.
   
  
• In Sweden, 3 Group (See "3 Scandinavia Deploys Procera New 30G DPI Appliance" - here) offers a variety of on-the-fly promotions, including QoS uplift for loyalty and periodic free boosts in data speed.
   
  
• Multiple operators now offer unlimited access to Facebook and other social networking sites within volume-delimited services ; Multiple operators waive data volume metering in off-peak periods, e.g. at night ; Some operators offer "shared wallet" services, in which allocations are shared across different devices or family members, for example ; One operator lets customers choose five Internet sites or URLs and get unlimited access to them.