Who ever said the Mobile phone industry was boring , well truth be told i did , but that is mainly because it was, the big guys didnt have to try for business , the smaller guys were focusing on pay as you go and neither was really trying for competitive low cost plans, and as the industry well knows a pay as you go customer is as loyal as an Italian with a German on his doorstep.
all networks are going to see business increase with inside sources saying Three Ireland are expecting to lose approximately 20% of the o2 business within 2 years due to the takeover and the average o2's customers perception of three.
Lets take a look at where and who the big 4 are now
1. Oldest and most stable kid on the block , Vodafone Ireland have never been off the No.1 spot , Until the last 2 weeks they have never had anyone even close , but with only 2% between Vodafone and the number 2 spot , this is the closest the race has ever been , with heavy financing behind the big red machine its unlikely to let the gap close in.Vodafone currently stand at 39% market share
2. With the sale of Telefonica's o2 Ireland to Hutchinson Whampoa aka Three Ireland it pushes them from 4th largest network in ireland to the number 2 spot behind the unmovable giants Vodafone , while Three Ireland will not be able to keep the o2 name as this belongs to Telefonica , they have gained o2's most valuable asset , its infrastructure and 4g licence , at the moment Three Ireland are paying Vodafone for the use of its 2g network which will end fairly soon ,both networks combined account for approximately 37% of the market
3.Always the underdog Meteor have only started to get their act together in the last year , starting to compete since coming out of examinership , however the massive gap between the top 2 networks and Meteor leaves a lot of work to be done , as of Comregs 2012 report meteor and emobile held 20%
Since launching their bill pay plans in late 2011 tesco mobile have got some seriously good offers ,however they dont have the reputation other networks have built over the years , no one will take them seriously , at the moment they stand at 186,000 customers or 3% of the market
So now the 4g race begins , with all networks upgrading their masts its gonna be the first big push in the market since 3g launched in 2004/2005 , whoever has it first has the big advantage and will literally poach customers from the other networks , with Meteor already trialling 4g in sligo , dublin and galway and the only network with a launch in mid august , I would expect Three or Vodafone to be around the same due to the financial backing they both have
Its all to play for in the next few months , each network has the potential to grab a fairly substantial portion of the competition
Michael Kearney
