Vodafone offers free Sky Sports to support slow 4G rollout - Telegraph.co.uk

Mr Laurence said: "This whole period of mobile is not going to be won or lost in one day. The entertainment packages are available nationwide. "I absolutely fundamentally believe people want to consume content on their mobile phones." Vodafone said it will cover 98pc of the population indoors by the end of 2015. Mr Laurence admitted the rollout was slow, but blamed planning regulations and low profit margins rather than a strategic choice. Vodafone's cheapest package without a 4G handset will cost the same as O2's at £26 per month. All Vodafone's packages will offer unlimited data downloads for the first three months before being limited to 2GB, 4GB or 8GB. O2 has said its 4G customers will get free access to a music streaming, believed to be its existing O2 Tracks top 40 service, but it has not confirmed details. It is also understood that O2 tried to secure access to Premier League football highlights clips via a deal with News UK, publisher of The Sun, which owns the rights, but talks broke down. Both O2 and Vodafone are entering the market 10 months after EE, Britain's largest mobile operator, which got a head start by reusing surplus airwaves from the merger of Orange and T-Mobile and has said it will have a million 4G subscribers by the end of the year. Mr Laurence declined to reveal Vodafone's targets, suggesting EE had only revealed its progress as part of its effort to court investors ahead of a planned flotation. Analysts suggested the slow rollout by O2 and Vodafone suggested that 4G has not proved a strong enough reason for many of their customers to switch to EE. Kester Mann of CCS Insight said: "The inclusion of content from Spotify and Sky Sports is an important move but may not be enough to convince customers to transition to 4G. "The lack of urgency to launch reflects low defection of customers to EE for which the majority of 4G sign-ups have been from its existing base. "Vodafone's announcement is underwhelming and there is nothing ground-breaking in its initial plans for 4G. The limited roll-out supports our view that the operator does not feel fully ready to bring 4G services to market but needs to fulfil a prior commitment to launch before the end of the summer." Three, Britain's smallest mobile operator, has not announced its 4G plans beyond commitments to introduce some coverage this year and charge no extra for faster speeds. As well as London, by the end of the year Vodafone plans to provide 4G coverage in Birmingham, Coventry, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham and Sheffield. via Technology - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNEsSwNviFR5rXxnQQ69a76hLw9bSg&url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/10228526/Vodafone-offers-free-Sky-Sports-to-support-slow-4G-rollout.html

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