The inside track on the news – online and in print
£2.70 www.MobileToday.co.uk 9 September 2016
Note 7 recall costs billions p3
Virtual reality steals the show p4
Apple hit with €13bn fine p6
‘Make it right’ Three CEO tells regulator
Network’s CEO Dave Dyson wants a stronger regulator and more spectrum By Zak Garner-Purkis THRee’S Ceo Dave Dyson (pictured) has launched a major attack on the current state of the UK mobile market. Dyson has urged regulators to do more to ‘level the playing field’ so the business can compete with the likes of ee and Vodafone. He also accused his rivals of ‘strategic bidding’, ‘sitting on spectrum’, and using the threat of legal action to maintain their market position. Speaking to the media – significantly for the first time since the deal for Three’s owners CK Hutchison to buy rival o2 was rejected – Dyson was brutal in his market assessment. ‘You look at the history and it strongly suggests – even though we’re a bigger business now – that we’ve obviously got something that significantly impedes us. It’s not about the strength of the shareholders; they are making strong commercial decisions.
It’s fundamentally about the structure. We’re not looking for a leg-up from ofcom, we just want a level playing field. and right now there isn’t a level playing field.’ Raising the stakes ahead of the next radio wave spectrum auction, the Three boss said that he believed ofcom held back from making decisions that may be detrimental to the market’s biggest players because of the threat of legal action. ‘There is very little evidence of ofcom sticking its neck out and actually supporting the consumer. That’s not because it is incompetent or because it has been asleep at the wheel. It’s because the standard of appeal that ofcom has to live by is relatively low compared with other regulators in the UK such as the energy industry. ‘ofcom has always been aware that the big incumbents have massive legal teams and resources to delay and frustrate decisions that ofcom would
look to make.’ Dyson said it was Three’s belief that, in the past, rivals ee and Vodafone had both strategically acquired spectrum that they didn’t actually need. ‘Fundamentally, we think BT/ee and Vodafone have tried to get spectrum that they didn’t necessarily need. and the main object of that was to deny other operators in that market access to the spectrum.’ The next auction, which was initially scheduled for December 2015, is for the
2.3GHz/3.4GHz bandwidths. It was delayed after O2 and Three’s owners threatened legal action against the regulator because the decision on the merger between the two firms was still to be resolved. Three is asking ofcom to put certain limitations on the auction to ensure an even greater disparity of spectrum – a suggestion rejected by EE CEO marc allera when speaking to Mobile over the summer. He said that he opposed any alteration to
the process: ‘I hope that it’s a competitive process, I believe auctions should be.’ Responding to Dyson’s comments, a spokesperson from Vodafone UK said: ‘These are some pretty surprising comments from an operator that has been in the UK market for more than 15 years and has had ample opportunity, as well as the financial resources, to bid for spectrum when it has become available.’ a spokesperson from EE denied that the network was ‘sitting on spectrum’: ‘We have never stopped using our spectrum to deliver the very best network experience for customers. We pioneered 4G and we are a leader in network speeds. ‘We are unique in our commitment to expand 4G coverage to 95% of the UK’s landmass by 2020 – further than any other UK network has done – and will continue to ensure the UK stays at mobile technology’s leading edge.’
iPhone 7 launch: Redeem ready for £20m boom By Kezia Joseph ReDeeM has predicted that apple’s iPhone 7 launch will bring with it a boom in consumers looking to trade in their old handsets. The mobile phone recycler said it expects to return £20m to consumers in the weeks following the US tech giant’s keynote event, predicting trade-ins will significantly increase over the period. this will be
driven by Redeem-run schemes such as o2 Recycle and online service envirofone. Commenting on the launch, redeem CEO Paul adams said: ‘the iPhone launch is the key time of year for customers trading in their old devices, and represents a huge opportunity for Redeem across all of our operating territories. Consumers are increasingly looking to get value from their old device in order to get the latest model.’
across the rest of the industry, the iPhone 7 launch is highly anticipated. one staff member at a major UK retailer told Mobile: ‘We’re hoping the apple launch goes well after the launch problems last week with Samsung. ‘I think even though demand and excitement for the new iPhone feels about the same as last year, there may be a bigger push from Samsung to apple because of the issues with the galaxy note 7.’
HoW TRAiNiNG iS CHANGiNG THe FACe oF ReTAil P7-10