How Vodafone Got Here
Vodafone made the UK’s first mobile call on 1st January 1985. It marked the launch of the mobile industry and transformed global communications. Vodafone was established as a subsidiary company of Racal Electronic Plc in 1984 in Newbury, London. The company had less than 50 employees at that time.

Vodafone was the first cellular network launch in the UK. It was floated on the stock exchange in October 1988. The first digital (GSM) mobile phone service was launched in the UK by Vodafone in 1991. With loads of value added services Vodafone progressed and expand rapidly as specified on the website, www.vodafone.com.

In 1999 Vodafone became the second largest company in the FTSE 100. Vodafone is the world’s leading international mobile telecommunications group and operates in 27 countries across 5 continents. For more than 20 years Vodafone has been at the forefront of mobile innovation and they are now entering a stretch of unchartered territory as the next generation technology opens up a whole new range of opportunities for customers.

The competitors of Vodafone are those who:

Offer the same product or service now Offer similar products or services now Could offer the same or similar products or services in the future Could remove the need for a product or service.

It is important for Vodafone to know who their competitors are because by knowing this they are able to predict their next moves, exploit their weaknesses and undermine their strengths. This is important because customers usually know the differences between companies, like their good points and bad points. They know that company A is cheaper than company B and that company C has a better after-sales service.

In this report I will be looking at two main competitors of Vodafone who are O2 and Orange. I have decided to compare Vodafone to O2 and Orange because according to Ofcom Vodafone has a market share of 25% whereas O2 has slightly higher at 27% and Orange has slightly lower at 22%. The table below indicates the market share of all of Vodafone’s competitors and it can clearly be seen that O2 and Orange are by far the closest in terms of this, they are therefore ideal to do the competitor analysis for.

UK MOBILE PHONE MARKET SHARE
O2: 27%
Vodafone: 25%
Orange: 22%
T-Mobile: 15%
3: 8%
Source: Ofcom

However this is the market share they have in the UK and Vodafone does have a large amount of market share in a lot of countries abroad. The table below shows Vodafone’s market share figures globally and which competitors they have:

Country	Network Name (former)	Ownership	Customers	Market Share	Rank	Local Web Site	Local Competitors
Europe
Albania	Vodafone	99.90%	1.127m	48.00%	2/2	vodafone.al	AMC
Czech Republic	Vodafone (Oskar)	100.00%	2.658m	20.14% [2]	3/4	vodafone.cz	O2, T-Mobile, U:fon
Germany	Vodafone (D2)	100.00%	33.920m	34.10% [3]	2/4	vodafone.de	T-Mobile, E-Plus, O2
Greece	Vodafone (Panafon)	99.90%	5.438m	35.60%	2/4	vodafone.gr	Cosmote, Wind, Q-Telecom
Hungary	Vodafone (AirTouch - Primatel)	100.00%	2.304m	21.04% [4]	3/3	vodafone.hu	T-Mobile, Pannon
Ireland	Vodafone (Eircell)	100.00%	2.265m	43.40% [5]	1/4	vodafone.ie	O2, Meteor, 3, Eircom Mobile, Tesco Mobile
Italy	Vodafone (Omnitel)	76.86%	22.791m	33.70% [6]	2/4	vodafone.it	TIM, Wind, 3
Malta	Vodafone (Telecell)	100.00%	0.201m	52.00%	1/2	vodafone.com.mt	GO Mobile
Netherlands	Vodafone (Libertel)	99.90%	4.038m	21.80% [7]	3/3	vodafone.nl	KPN, T-Mobil
Northern Cyprus	KKTC Telsim2	100.00%	0.104m	27.22% [8]	2/2	kktctelsim.com	KKTCell
Portugal	Vodafone (Telecel)	100.00%	5.111m	37.20%	2/3	vodafone.pt	TMN, Optimus
Romania	Vodafone (Connex)	100.00%	8.808m	39.00% [9]	2/4	vodafone.ro	Orange, Cosmote, Zapp Mobile
Spain	Vodafone (Airtel)	100.00%	15.810m	31.20% [10]	2/4	vodafone.es	Movistar, Orange, Yoigo
Turkey	Vodafone (Telsim)	100.00%	16.116m	26.00% [11]	2/3	vodafone.com.tr	Turkcell, Avea
United Kingdom	Vodafone	100.00%	18.447m	25.30% [12]	2/5	vodafone.co.uk	O2, T-Mobile, Virgin Media (Mobile), 3, Orange
Asia-Pacific
Australia	Vodafone	50.00%	6.000m	27.00% [14]	3/3	vodafone.com.au	Telstra, Optus
India	Vodafone (Hutch)	67.00%	80.123m	22.93% [15]	3/9	vodafone.in	AirTel, BSNL Mobile, Reliance, MTNL, Idea, Aircel, Tata DoCoMo, Uninor
New Zealand	Vodafone (BellSouth)	100.00%	2.309m	52.30% [16]	1/2	vodafone.co.nz	Telecom, TelstraClear, 2degrees
Middle East & Africa
DR Congo	Vodacom	25.50%	n/a	49.00%	1/?	vodacom.cd	Celtel, tigo
Egypt	Vodafone (Click GSM)	55.00%	13.333m	44.30% [17]	2/3	vodafone.com.eg	Mobimil, Etisalat
Ghana	Vodafone (Ghana Telecom, Onetouch)	70.00%	1.400m	17.00%	3/6	vodafone.com.gh	MTN, Tigo, Zain
Lesotho	Vodacom	44.15%	n/a	80.00%	1/2	vodacom.com.ls	Econet Wireless
Mozambique	Vodacom	49.00%	n/a	40.00% [18]	2/2	vm.co.mz	mCel
Qatar	Vodafone	22.95%	0.353m	22.00% [19]	2/2	vodafone.com.qa	Qtel
South Africa	Vodacom	65.00%	16.521m	52.60% [20]	1/3	vodacom.co.za	MTN, Cell C
Tanzania	Vodacom	32.50%	n/a	46.00% [21]	1/4	vodacom.co.tz	Celtel, Tigo

 

From this table it can be seen that Vodafone operate in a lot of countries, however O2 and Orange only operate in some, which automatically shows the diversity of how Vodafone has expanded their brand globally much more than its main competitors.

In the content of this report I will be analysing the Pay As You Go tariffs offered by these companies in comparison to Vodafone as well as the strengths and weaknesses of these competitors. The information I will be using in the competitor analysis will be from the internet, looking at company brochures/website and going into store.

 

PAYG Analysis
Vodafone Group Plc is the world's leading mobile telecommunications company, with a significant presence in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific and the United States. Vodafone was formed in 1984 as a subsidiary of Racal Electronics Plc. Then known as Racal Telecom Limited, approximately 20% of the company's capital was offered to the public in October 1988. It was fully demerged from Racal Electronics Plc and became an independent company in September 1991, at which time it changed its name to Vodafone Group Plc. Following its merger with AirTouch Communications, Inc. The company changed its name to Vodafone AirTouch Plc on 29 June 1999 and, following approval by the shareholders in General Meeting, reverted to its former name, Vodafone Group Plc, on 28 July 2000. Vodafone currently have proportionate mobile customer base of 315.3 million customers world wide.

The two networks in conjunction with Vodafone that I am going to analyse for the purpose of this competitor analysis are;

O2 Three

I am going to compare their Pay as you go tariffs against Vodafone’s. I have chosen these competitors because I think that they are both strong competitors for Vodafone. I have chosen Pay as you go to compare because I think that all three of these networks provide great Pay as you go offers. I aim to prove in this competitor analysis that even though O2 and three give great offers Vodafone will come out on top. I gathered my information from the internet, by going into the stores, and by looking at their brochures.

Products and Services

Vodafone’s Pay as You Go

Vodafone has various pay as you go options:

Vodafone Simply 3 Freedom Packs Free weekends Text unlimited Vodafone Family Vodafone international Summer Roaming Promotion (01-06-09 / 31-08-09) Vodafone Passport Vodafone IOU

When you first buy a Vodafone sim card, initially you are on Vodafone simply which is 20p per minute and 10p per text to any geographical numbers. This is a straightforward price plan however there is a lot more value for money pay as you go offers that Vodafone will offer you.

Vodafone recently launched ‘Freedom Packs’
These packs offer so much more value for money if a customer is topping up a lot of money in a week/month. There are three freedom packs available

£10 – Gives you 100 minutes and 300 texts
£15 – Gives you 200 minutes and 600 texts
£20 – Give you 300 minutes and unlimited texts

The freedom packs offer a combination of minutes and texts to any UK network or landlines. They can also be used abroad in conjunction with Vodafone Passport. The packs last 30days only, only one can be bought in 30days, the minutes and texts do not roll over. So with the freedom packs pay as you go customers are getting the benefits of contract, even if they are not eligible for one. These packs are also great for young users as parents don’t fear the risk of ending up with a high bill but are saving a lot of money by having a freedom pack.

Text unlimited

Text unlimited is great for all of those people who love to text. Text unlimited has three options;

Top up £5 a month – This gives you unlimited texts on weekday evenings
Top up £10 a month – This gives you unlimited texts, evenings and all weekend
Top up £20 a month – This gives you unlimited texts all day everyday.

Free Weekends

Free weekends are great for those people that don’t top up a lot but can still benefit from some pay as you go options.

Customers can talk and text all weekend with ‘Free weekend’ all customers need to do is spend £5 of top up through the week and they will receive this offer.

Vodafone International

With Vodafone international customers receive great rates for their calls from the UK to any country in the world starting from just a minimum of 5p a minute. All they need to do is add international on to their price plans. The prices and terms and conditions for this are on the Vodafone website with the lists of countries and how much they each cost.

Vodafone family

Vodafone family is a great offer because 4 people can share unlimited minutes between each other, only one person has to pay £5 a month. This is can be used for either pay as you go or contract users. This offer is great because you can still call each other even if you don’t have any credit left on your phone!

Vodafone IOU

Vodafone offers an IOU package of £2 to keep you going until you top and then that £2 is deducted from the amount that you have just topped up.

Vodafone Passport

Vodafone have a list of various countries in the EU and some world countries that are included within Vodafone passport. Vodafone passport is great for when you are abroad, when receiving a call in a Vodafone passport country you pay a 75p call charge and then you can talk for up to an hour. When making a call you would pay a 75p call charge and then the rest of the time would come out of your inclusive minutes and texts from a freedom pack or it would come out of your calling credit at UK rates.

Summer Roaming Promotions

Vodafone currently are doing an unbeatable offer. If you are going on holiday this summer Vodafone are abolishing roaming charges in over 35 countries across Europe as well as Australia and New Zealand. You can talk and text as you would at home with no additional charges, this includes calls, texts, picture messaging, calls to Vodafone customer services and accessing voicemail. This applies to pay as you go as well as monthly plans.

Vodafone’s mystery shop

Overall presentation of the store 10/10 Overall presentation of the team 9/10 Overall presentation of the service 10/10 Customer magic total 9.5/10

Vodafone’s Strengths

World leader within the communications industry International platform Network coverage Great summer roaming promotion Freedom packs ( as explained below ) Lowest internet prices per day (50p per day for 25mb compared to O2 at £3 per MB) Minimum top up £5

Vodafone’s Weakness

Customers have to have insurance with Vodafone, to become eligible for a courtesy phone if their handset needs to be sent away to the repair centre, very few customers have insurance and this does cause a challenge for Vodafone.

International calls are a weakness compared to O2’s