INTRODUCTION
Began in mid 1980s
25 million subscibers
50% market penetration (Oftel)
Economic benefits
Increased quality of life?
PEST ANALYSIS
POLITICAL
Mobile phone transmitter stations
Government intervention to ensure
competition
3G license selloff
ECONOMIC
Commitment to 3G
Subsidised handsets on expected revenues
Pay As You Go has lost money on some
users
Contract customers are 3 times more
lucrative (FT source(!))
Cost of building network infrastructure,
maintenance and upgrading to 3G
Income from callers dialling mobiles from
landlines
SOCIAL
Estimated 2/3 of UK households run
active mobile phones (Oftel)
Creates many jobs in UK
Text messages
Social prerequisite
Fashion accessory
Cancer scares
TECHNOLOGY
Implications of WAP
Phones get smaller with more features
High bandwidth with potential for video
5 FORCES ANALYSIS
Threat of new entrants
Low because of infrastructure costs and
broadcast license costs
Large number of resellers but they are
small and weak
Buyers
Small buyers give networks power
Government watchdog keeps prices
reasonable
Competition between networks
Tariffs not easily comparable
Sellers
Handsets
Network equipment
Substitutes
No close substitutes
Pagers – not as effective
Internet text messaging – Genie.co.uk
Competitive rivalry
Hyper competitive market
Mature market
Regulation is essential
3G phones could create new submarket