Press Releases

4 - 3 - 2 - 1 ONE´s revolutionary tariff structure

- Revolutionary tariff structure
- Price policy: fair and transparent
- ONE mobile network takes over fixed-line function
- Start with 60% population coverage all over Austria
- Quick-starter bonus till Oct. 25,1998, 12:00 p.m.

ONE: Fair prices from the beginning on


With ONE, all Austrians will have the possibility of having mobile phones – with the mobile standard of the future: GSM 1800. Following the company philosophy, the price structure is also simple, fair, and innovative. Simple, because it´s easy to remember – each minute of airtime in Austria costs either 1, 2, 3, or 4 schillings. Fair, because with these prices and crystal clear voice quality ONE is offering customers a real alternative to fixed-line telephony. Innovative, because the Bundesland tariff takes into account the telephone behaviour of ONE customers. ONE Managing Director Lars P. Reichelt says, “This is the attractive alternative to the fixed line that anyone can afford. Simply: ONE for all.”

Extensive service packages and revolutionary tariff structure

Whereas Austrians so far have had to remember an immense number of different telephone tariffs valid at different times of the day, for ONE customers everything will be simpler, and on top of that they will save money.

ONE Business
Airtime will cost the same amount round the clock – for calls to the fixed line within the province chosen by the customer 1 schilling and for national calls 2 schillings per minute. From ONE to ONE 1 schilling; and to other mobile networks 4 schillings.

ONE Classic
ONE Classic offers two clear time bands, off-peak hours (6:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m., weekends, public holidays) and peak hours (8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Monday to Friday). Airtime for calls to the fixed line will cost 1 or 2 (within the chosen province) and 3 or 4 schillings (for other national calls) per minute. From ONE to ONE 1 schilling round the clock; to other mobile networks 4 or 6 schillings.

Calls from ONE to ONE
will cost 1 schilling per minute with both tariffs. This also includes – another novelty in Austria – listening to the voicemail from within Austria.
The one-time activation fee is 400 schillings, the monthly fee for ONE Classic with Bundesland tariff 300 schillings and for ONE Business with Bundesland 24 tariff 500 schillings.

ONE Bundesland
With the ONE Bundesland tariff ONE is taking into account that most calls (around 80% of all calls made by private customers and around 60% with business customers) are made within one province. ONE customers thus pay clearly less for calls within their chosen province. A call made within Tyrol or Vienna as the chosen province is thus cheaper than calls from Tyrol to Vienna.

Comparison pays off
With this price structure, ONE lies clearly below the conventional GSM-900 networks. In many areas, ONE is clearly cheaper than the fixed line.
Comparisons have shown that in cases of typical calling behaviour, compared with the GSM-900 networks, ONE private customers will save around 28 % and ONE business customers between 57 % and 68 %. Even compared with the fixed line, ONE´s pricing plans are an interesting alternative.

ONE: Everything from one provider

ONE sells co-branded dual-band handsets and offers extensive service for dealers and customers: from simple and unbureaucratic Walk-&-Talk activation up to 24-hour delivery service in case of repairs.
From the beginning on, six ONE dual-band handsets will be available in more than 460 ONE Partners and seven ONE World shops all over Austria at these prices:

Nokia 6150:
5,900 schillings

Ericsson SH888:
5,000 schillings

Motorola cd920:
3,200 schillings

Siemens S15 E:
2,600 schillings

Bosch Dual-Com 738:
2,200 schillings

Mitsubishi MT-D30:
1,700 schillings

Quick-starter bonus till Oct. 25,1998, 12:00 p.m.

Until October 25, 12:00 p.m., everybody can make sure he gets the option of receiving a monthly airtime credit of 30 minutes for three years by calling the number 0699/70 800 – without any risk and without obligation to buy. Upon presentation of a special voucher when purchasing a ONE handset, the customer will receive 30 minutes airtime for free every month for 3 years (valid from ONE to ONE and for national calls to the fixed line as long as the subscription is maintained).

ONE: Reality of costs and transparency

The tariff structure as shown proves that ONE´s price policy is characterised by fairness and transparency as well. ONE shows customers the real costs of mobile telephony. Thus handsets are not “given away”, but sold at fair prices – yet without long contractual commitments for the customer. At the same time, tariffs and service packages are so simple and easy to understand that the customer will know exactly what he gets for his money – no unpleasant additional costs will appear.
Loss leaders such as handsets for 40 schillings in combination with a 12-month contract do not stand up to ONE´s offer. Eduard Zehetner, CFO of ONE, says “within two to four months – and even with the most expensive handsets in any case within the term of the contract – the supposed saving in the purchase of the handset is equalised by ONE´s lower tariffs.“
This transparency of costs finally reduces such – only seemingly favourable – offers to absurdity. A mobile phone becomes a universal medium of communication, clearly calculable for any kind of customer needs and, thanks to attractive tariffs, affordable for everybody. This is ONE for all. All this in combination with the high transmission quality of the GSM-1800 network makes ONE a “better fixed line”.

Thus, the statements made before in connection with ONE´s financial future must be stressed again:
- positive cash flow in 2000
- positive annual result in 2001
- cumulative break even in 2003


ONE: First network provider with 60% coverage already at launch

At the official start, ONE will have around 60 % population coverage all over Austria, for Christmas 1998, 80% of the population will be covered. Jørgen Bang-Jensen, CEO of ONE says, “not a single mobile network world-wide has had such a high coverage at launch, with the exception of city-states such as Singapore.”
By mid 1999, population coverage will be above 90% and thus at a similar level as the existing GSM-900 networks. At the same time ONE attributes great importance to good quality throughout the entire network – EFR technology in all network elements and in all dual-band handsets, because “Enhanced Full Rate” ensures voice quality like in the fixed line. And the extremely high capacity ensures a minimum number of dropped calls.

Measurable quality as a basis for coverage

ONE also stresses honesty and fairness in the graphic representation of its coverage. Only such areas will be marked as covered where crystal clear and noise-free voice quality is ensured, even if the ONE network already covers more areas. The indication of coverage is based on the measured value of –87 db, which stands for 100% voice quality in this measuring range. Thus ONE customers can be sure that coverage for them does not only exist on paper.

ONE: Mobile network with fixed-line function

Contrary to the trend of combining fixed-line and mobile networks, ONE believes that a mobile network can assume the functions of the fixed line. Thus ONE has created a price structure that allows independent positioning as an alternative to the fixed line. ONE will make it possible to substitute fixed-line connections rather than just supplementing them. ONE customers will thus save the basic fee for the fixed line. The potential and transmission capacities of the GSM-1800 technology make it interesting especially for business customers to add up their investment in a modem, a fax machine, an ISDN-connection (only this offers two phone numbers like ONE), and a telephone; this sum should be set against the purchase price of a single ONE dual-band handset that unites all mentioned devices. And besides offering lower costs, ONE takes into account the growing advantages of being mobile.
All promises kept

Promised:
on 8/27/98 – coverage of 52%
Kept:
Coverage overfulfilled as of 8/27/98;
fastest in rollout with 60% coverage at the national start

Promised:
Market entry this autumn
Kept:
Start two days after the change of the clocks from daylight saving time

Promised:
Fully financed before launch
Kept:
Financing fixed two days before regional launch
(Tyrol, Vorarlberg)

Promised:
1,100 direct jobs medium-term
Kept:
850 direct and 3.000 indirect jobs created in one year

Promised:
Investment: 12.5 bn. ATS
Kept:
8 bn. ATS invested