Sweden gets new subscription form - Vodafone introduces flat rate fee for mobile telephony

– Fixed-line telephones soon to be superfluous On Monday 19 September, Vodafone Sweden will present a new subscription form in Sweden - Vodafone Business Fast Pris - where domestic voice calls - including start-up fees and messaging services - are included in the fixed monthly price SEK 599.

With this new subscription, business customers can use their mobile phones at a fixed monthly price (flat rate) instead of pay-by-minute or pay-by-message, which is the traditional model for voice telephony and messaging services in Sweden. The campaign price of SEK 599/month is extended to customers who sign up before 31 December 2005. The regular price of SEK 999/month applies after that period. Better control of costs Vodafone Sweden’s new price model has clear advantages: better control of costs, for example – users know that the price is SEK 599 a month for calls and messages sent inside Sweden. It is also simpler to compare prices with other telephony subscriptions and customers no longer have to think about start-up fees or tariffs that change due to the time of day or operator called. “We are responding to our customers’ need for simple, user-friendly subscriptions that offer superior control of mobile costs. The monthly flat-rate price model has been tried and tested by the data telephony sector and Vodafone is now first in Sweden to extend this model to cover voice telephony and messaging services,” says Klas Wallström, Head of Business Segment at Vodafone Sweden. ”For many of our business customers, this new subscription means they can finally wave goodbye to fixed-line telephones, lowering their telephony costs in the process.” There is a maximum limit for calls and messages in the subscription, however it is very high. Should customers make calls for more than 150 hours a month (5 hours a day) and exceed the maximum limit of SEK 5,999 they will pay SEK 0.63 per minute for all calls (+ start-up fee SEK 0.63 per call), SEK 0.90 per SMS and SEK 2.23 per MMS which is billed on top of the flat monthly rate. The underlying minute price for Vodafone Business Fast Pris is SEK 0.63/minute and the subscription is part of Vodafone Sweden’s new price assurance plan. This means that if the minute price goes down in the subscription, customers will automatically pay the lower rate and thereby get even more call time. All the prices specified above are excluding VAT. Data traffic is not included in the fixed monthly price. Price information: Vodafone Business Fast Pris (excluding VAT) The monthly fee for new subscription customers during the campaign period is SEK 599 and includes calls to all mobile operators in Sweden and all fixed-line calls, SMS and MMS to the value of SEK 5,999/month. This is based on: Price/minute: SEK 0. 63 Start-up fee per call: SEK 0.63 SMS: SEK 0.90 MMS: SEK 2.23 Data: SEK16/MB (not included in the flat rate. Data packages are available as a supplementary service (example: 200 MB/month for SEK 199/month) For more information, please contact: Paul Moonga, Marketing Director, Vodafone Sweden Telephone: +46 (0)734-25 26 28, e-mail: paul.moonga@vodafone.com Klas Wallström, Head of Business Segment, Vodafone Sweden Tel: +46 709 61 47 33, e-mail: klas.wallström@vodafone.com Johan Holmgren, Head of Public Relations, Vodafone Sweden Tel: +46 708 33 14 00, e-mail: johan.holmgren@vodafone.com