STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Sept. 12, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- The price assurance is the latest move from Vodafone Sweden to make it better for its customers and challenges its competitors. The price assurance means that all customers who have the Vodafone subscription Vodafone Abonnemang or who buy Vodafone Sweden's new prepay card (launched today) will automatically benefit from future cuts in the minute price.
A new survey by the Swedish research company Sifo shows that a large proportion of Swedes are unaware of the terms and conditions they signed up to in their mobile contract. Many mobile customers are therefore still paying higher call charges, despite the fact that prices have fallen significantly in recent years.
The price assurance means that future cuts in minute prices in Vodafone Abonnemang and Vodafone Kontantkort automatically will benefit all customers that have these subscriptions. As a Vodafone Sweden customer, there is no need to keep an eye out for new types of subscription in order to benefit from lower minute prices when prices are cut.
"We have already made improvements for private consumers by introducing the same minute price for calls to all operators' networks round the clock, and the Swedish minute price abroad, and have long offered 24-hour customer support. With the price assurance on top, customers can rely on having our best minute price. All together this makes us the most attractive option for Swedish mobile customers," says Grahame Maher, MD of Vodafone Sweden.
Vodafone Sweden is today launching a major campaign covering its range of products and services for private consumers, aimed at both new and existing customers.
"We maintain ongoing contact with customers so as to keep them informed of our latest offers, and now we are stepping up this contact in order to get even more people to discover how the market has changed in recent years. Otherwise there is a risk of customers staying with subscriptions which are less beneficial to them than they should be," says Grahame Maher.
69 per cent have no idea of mobile costs A new Sifo survey commissioned by Vodafone Sweden shows that 78 per cent of mobile users consider it important or very important for price cuts introduced by mobile operators to apply to all customers. 54 per cent of mobile users think this is so obvious that they mistakenly believe they automatically benefit from price cuts announced by their operator, whichever subscription they have. Only 15 per cent are proactive about making sure they change contract when a more advantageous offer comes up.
In response to the question of whether they always know the minute price they are paying when making calls from their mobile, 69 per cent said ``no, never" and 14 per cent "sometimes". Ignorance of call costs is highest among older users, with 75 per cent of 50- to 64-year-olds and 80 per cent of those over 65 never knowing the minute price they are paying, compared with 58 per cent of 15- to 29-year-olds. This widespread lack of awareness may be explained by the fact that the majority of Swedes (65 per cent) change their mobile subscription as rarely as once every four years.
In April Vodafone launched a standard minute price for Vodafone Abonnemang -- currently SEK 0.79 -- for all calls, irrespective of operator or time of day. Vodafone's new Prepay card Vodafone Kontantkort, which is launched today, also offers a standard minute price.
Vodafone Passport, which introduced Vodafone's Swedish minute prices for calls from abroad, has been a success with the network's customers. And this step has also been endorsed by the Sifo survey, with 51 per cent of respondents saying it is important or very important to be able to ring at the same minute price abroad as at home. People also like to be able to predict their mobile bill, knowing that they are paying the same price for all calls, irrespective of whom or when they are ringing, with 66 per cent considering this to be important or very important. Being able to get help, and answers to questions from customer service 24 hours a day is considered important or very important by 52 per cent, with a particularly high rating among younger mobile users between the ages of 15 and 29 (65 per cent).
About the survey
The survey was carried out by Sifo on behalf of Vodafone. 1000 persons in Sweden were interviewed by telephone in the period 25-28 July 2005.
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