Mobile Network Comparison

It just goes to show that you can’t trust mobile networks. After their straight-up denial that they would be rebranding Everything Everywhere have dropped some pretty strong hints that they’ll be launching a new exclusive 4G brand in the UK tomorrow.

Everything Everywhere – which was formed by the merger or Orange and T-Mobile in 2010 – has always suffered some criticism for its choice of brand. Recently, when it was awarded the 4G monopoly in the UK for the next year or so, there were rumours that the company would take advantage of this situation by launching a new 4G-focussed brand name. At the time, company spokespeople vigourously denied this claiming that the well-recognised high street names would remain.

However, it now seems they weren’t being entirely truthful. Will the new iPhone 5 expected to be announced on Wednesday and all-but-certainly to come with 4G connectivity, Everything Everywhere are riding the wave by showing off their exclusive right to offer 4G connections (to iPhones and other phones) here in the UK.

There has only been heavy hint-dropping and no official announcement from Everything Everywhere as of yet but they have recently registered many 4G-related trademarks so it seems pretty clear than the new brand name will be related. Although analysts have suggested that it will further confuse consumers who largely are still unaware that Orange and T-Mobile are not separate brands any more, it’s fairly certain that a new mobile brand is coming to the Everything Everywhere family.

The brand-new (no pun intended) Nokia Lumia 920 is coming out in the UK soon too. Like the iPhone 5, it will be 4G enabled and, as Everything Everywhere is the only company running a working 4G network, it seems they will have an exclusive deal on that too. In any case, while we can’t be sure until the official announcement tomorrow, currently we’re betting that tomorrow will see the launch of a new 4G brand from Everything Everywhere highlighting these two phones. Let’s wait and see 🙂

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There’s been lots of talk recently about Everything Everywhere in light of the ongoing 4G negotiations and Ofcom’s recent decision to allow Orange and T-Mobile to provide the UK’s first 4G service, months ahead of any of their rivals. Apart from the fury about their being granted a monopoly for 4G, there has been significant speculation about the company’s future branding.

Although Orange and T- Mobile have been merged together as Everything Everywhere for a couple of years now, they have continued to operate on the high street as two separate brands. Their head-start with 4G has led some to suggest that they will use the opportunity to rebrand focussing on being the only UK network able to offer 4G speeds from the end of the year. Existing users could gradually be migrated over to the new network according to industry sources. Another alternative that has been mooted is for a third brand to emerge alongside Orange and T-Mobile specifically to focus on high-speed 4G.

However, the network has been quick to deny any such claims. A spokesman for Everything Everywhere said that they remain committed to the existing brands. The company said “It is well known that we ran a brand review last year,” a spokesperson said. “The outcome of that brand review is confidential. However what we can say is that we remain committed to our hugely successful brands Orange and T-Mobile … Any suggestion otherwise is entirely speculative.”

So for the time being, the UK’s largest mobile network is going to stay separated as Orange and T-Mobile. We do know for sure that the brand consolidation can been considered though and discussed at the highest levels in the company so, despite the denials, we certainly wouldn’t rule it out completely. It might make more sense to use this opportunity to launch a new company name but it’s clear that the rebranding exercise will be very costly. What’s more some would deem it foolish not to continue cashing in on the existing brands that are recognised internationally and have been built up for some time now.

What’s your take on this? Is Everything Everywhere a good brand name? Would they be better off rebranding Orange and T-Mobile? And do you think this would even ever happen?

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Everything Everywhere – the parent company of Orange and T-Mobile – has just been granted an effective monopoly on 4G in the UK by governing body Ofcom. The network is already the biggest in the country and will only be helped by this latest decision.

Over the last few months, Everything Everywhere has been lobbying strongly for this concession but the decision from Ofcom has only just been announced. The claim all along has been that the much-delayed launch of 4G in the UK must be prioritised over all else. Somewhat predictably, Everything Everywhere have been trying to claim that it’s better to get some 4G services than none even if that provides them with a huge competitive advantage. Conveniently, the only company who thinks this is an acceptable side-effect – Everything Everywhere – is the company that serves to benefit the most.

What Ofcom has decided is that Everything Everywhere can use its existing mobile spectrum to roll-out 4G services. It can start doing this as soon as September this year although it claims that things won’t actually get started in reality until some time later. Everything Everywhere is able to use existing spectrum as it already has a glut of it after the merger of Orange and T-Mobile. In fact, altogether the company actually owns about half the spectrum in the country. All the other networks will be forced to wait until the end of 2013 at the very soonest.

Everything Everywhere’s rivals were quick to condemn the ruling. Three Mobile, who are buying some of EE’s spare spectrum claimed that the decision has “distorted” the competitive landscape in the UK and will be detrimental to mobile users. O₂ also were quick to claim that the ruling was unfair and damages the competitive environment. Even Vodafone used strong language in decrying the ruling insinuating that it will be bad for consumers as well as business and the UK economy as a whole. Obviously it’s hard to sympathise with Vodafone when they’ve dodged tax to the tune of £6 billion, but ignoring their hypocrisy, they do have a point.

What it means for users is that there will be a working 4G network in the UK some time in 2012. Unfortunately it won’t be available for many people as it will only be usable by Everything Everywhere’s customers on Orange and T-Mobile.

Everyone else will have to wait until 2013 for the wider Ofcom auction of spectrum for 4G communications. With the continuing faff around Ofcom’s mismanagement of the 4G spectrum auction, all the other networks will have to wait to get everything sorted. A non-trivial risk is that further legal action from the mobile networks about this latest decision for Ofcom will not only delay Everything Everywhere’s attempt to roll out 4G early but could also have a detrimental impact on keeping the already-much-delayed 4G auction to schedule.

In reality, only time will tell how Everything Everywhere’s monopoly will affect the mobile market. Do you think their massive headstart on 4G will make a big difference? Would you consider switching to a mobile network for 4G access? And what do you make of Ofcom’s decision?

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