Verizon’s deal to put Skype on mobile devices has drawn a lot of attention here in the U.S. Turns out Skye’s first mobile operator deal, with U.K.’s 3, is doing swimmingly. According to an article in The Register, quoting research by CSS Insight, 3 benefited by adopting a mind-set that Skype would attract new customers rather than cannibalize its existing business.
The details show the gains 3 has made:
The benefits of Skype – or rather, the way 3 has marketed the service – have far outweighed the much-feared cannibalization of conventional voice revenues. Nearly 80% of 3 UK’s Skype users over the past year are new to the company, and on average, they deliver 20% higher ARPU and 14% lower churn than the rest of 3’s base (this might not be as marked at some other cellcos, since 3 tends to focus on prepaid and lower priced user profiles).
Skype’s EMEA market development director, Enrico Noseda, told Mobile Today: “Our deal with 3 UK has been extremely successful. There is great satisfaction on both sides. This is evidence that Skype is an opportunity rather than a threat to carriers. Skype users are clearly much more active communicators than non-Skype users.”
Connected Planet’s take,
Rich Karpinski:
It seems unlikely that Verizon will see such a major boost from Skype. It simply hasn’t marketed Skype as aggressively as 3 (opting instead to go all in on Android). But it also looks to be clear it won’t take a major hit revenue-wise. And just as interestingly, Verizon architected its Skype Mobile service to run calls over its voice network, so its 3G network won’t take a hit or need to be re-architected to handle Skype calling, either.
But what might be most interesting, and most worth emulating, is the idea that users of certain apps may be “hyper-communicators” that telcos should work to attract, even on a loss-leader basis. Skype appears to be this sort of app. I’d bet very heavily that Facebook or Twitter users (on the PC) would be likely candidates to be heavy mobile communicators, as well.
Equally important, however, is what type of traffic these active communicators generate. Due to its crafty network approach, Verizon’s scarce 3G bandwidth won’t be harmed by heavy Skype users. Mobile Twitter users won’t take down wireless networks 140 characters at a time. On the flip side, targeting heavy YouTube content creators and uploaders might not be the best idea.
That’s our take on this. Let us know what you think in the comments section below: