Swedish Consumers Are Slow to Sign Up for Free GPRS, Geab Says
By Philip Lagerkranser
Can't even give it away.
Stockholm, Nov. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Swedish consumers aren't rushing to subscribe to
faster cellular Internet services even after phone companies started offering them for
free, said Anders Maazon, chief executive officer at retailer Geab The Phonehouse.
Telia AB and Tele2 AB three weeks ago started offering free access to the Web from
mobile phones through the general packet radio service, or GPRS, to stimulate demand.
Europolitan Holdings AB, the country's No. 3 operator, also offers free GPRS access.
Still, consumer interest in the service has been low, Maazon said. Even though GPRS
lets handset users stay connected to the Internet without additional cost and offers
faster downloading, demand is suffering from a lack of useful services, he added.
``The customer is saying: `What do I need this for, what benefit do I get from it?',''
Maazon said in an interview. ``There aren't enough services with clear consumer
benefits.''
If users don't take to GPRS, it will spark more doubts about the commercial viability of
technology that offers even faster Internet links, analysts have said. Europe's phone
companies last year paid $100 billion just for licenses to offer such services.
About one-fifth of people who buy GPRS phones in Geab's stores also sign up for
GPRS subscriptions, Maazon said. He predicted the ratio will increase when more
phones from top handset maker Nokia Oyj hit stores.
Nokia started shipping its first GPRS phone, the 8310, early October. Phone companies
and retailers are waiting for Nokia to introduce cheaper, so-called entry-level models to
boost demand.
``The Swedish market is very dependent on Nokia,'' Maazon said. ``And they only have
one GPRS phone out there.''
Geab, a unit of Carphone Warehouse Plc, Europe's biggest cellular-phone retailer,
operates 53 stores throughout Sweden. |
