January 5, 2000. Copyright 2000. Graphic News. All rights reserved.

SCHOOLYARD CHATTER BOOSTS MOBILE PHONE SALES

LONDON, January 5, Graphic News: THE NUMBER of mobile phones in the UK surged with an estimated four million phones sold in the last three months of 1999, the majority being sold in the weeks before Christmas.

More than four in 10 people now subscribe to one of the UKÕs four main operators, according to figures released today.

The total number of Britons chattering on mobiles has soared to more than 24 million Ð driven by the availability of pre-paid schemes which allow schoolchildren and others who do not have access to a bank account or credit card to use mobile phones.

The third largest network, Orange, whose intensive marketing campaign took the ÒouchÓ out of ÒvoucherÓ, topped the network table with 1.4m new customers added in the three months between October and December, to take its total customer base to more than 5m. 

The UKÕs largest mobile phone provider, Vodafone, saw 1.08m new customers subscribe to its network, bringing its total customer base in the UK to 7.94m. 

The second-largest network, BT Cellnet, reported an increase of 1.00m new customers. Its customer base now totals 6.95m. 

And One2One, the smallest mobile network, added 903,000 new users in that period, taking its total customer base to 4.16m. 

An additional 100,000 customers bought a Virgin mobile phone in the seven weeks of its operation. Virgin has a joint marketing deal with One2One.

Despite this sales surge the UK has the lowest proportion of mobile phone users in the European Union. The sales battle is likely to intensify in 2000 when the next generation of mobile phones Ð capable of receiving e-mail and internet services Ð hit the shelves. Chris Gent, Vodaphone chief executive, said: Ò The growth of mobile communication around the world remains strong and we continue to accelerate.Ó

/ENDS
Sources: FT Mobile Communications, BBC, Reuters