Revolution underway on Czech mobile market

The Czech mobile telephony market is undergoing a dramatic change after one of the country’s three major operators slashed its tariffs by about half, a move immediately followed by its competitors. Following years of complaints about high mobile bills, Czechs can now get unlimited calls and text messages at prices similar to other countries in the region.

Photo: Barbora Kmentová

The customer care lines of the three major Czech mobile operators have received tens of thousands of calls since they introduced the new rates in the last week.

The first to make the move was, Telefónica O2, offering customers on two-year contracts unlimited calls and text messages to all networks, with one megabyte of mobile data, for 749 crowns a month. That is roughly a half of what they charged before.

A few days later, its main competitors, Vodafone and T-Mobile, introduced their own new rates, bringing prices down even further.

With over five million clients, Telefónica, is the Czech Republic’s second biggest mobile operator. Its marketing director for mobile voice and data services Petr Matějovský says it is too early to say whether the move will change the company’s position on the market.

“At this moment we are very happy with what we have seen so far because the response has been great, as you could probably read yourself in the social media and the newspapers. Customers are responding in a great way, and in a way that we were hoping for. But it’s too early to assess the size of the revolution but the results so far are very promising.”

Petr Matějovský, photo: archive of Petr Matějovský

Telefónica markets its new rates as a “revolution” in mobile telephony, though analysts say this is only true for those who use their phones frequently. However, prices have dropped to levels common in other countries in the region.

But why has the change only occurred now, after years of complaints over high phone bills? Some experts believe that the operators have moved to gain advantage over a potential fourth operator and a number of so-called virtual operators that recently entered the market. However, Telefónica’s Petr Matějovský says the move has been long planned.

“Our customers told us they wanted more value so we decided a long time ago that we wanted to change the rules of the market, and regain the trust of our customers so that they would again be interested in coming to us and get new tariffs. It’s not connected to any recent changes on the market; it was a long-planned move that was decided upon many months ago.”

Photo: Sanja Gjenero, Stock.XCHNG

Meanwhile, the Czech mobile market is set for more changes. After one failed attempt, the country’s telecommunications authority last week announced the terms for a new auction of frequencies for high-speed LTE mobile network. The auction should get underway in June; if successful, it could bring a fourth operator to the market, pushing prices even further down.