T-Motion, a venture run by Deutsche Telekom and its mobile operator T-Mobil, says it will start charging users for access to data services on mobile phones this fall. In Germany, T-Motion subscribers will pay a monthly fee of 9.99 euros ($8.81) beginning Nov. 1. T-Mobile's U.K. and Austrian operators (One2One and Max Mobil, respectively) will follow with similar schemes in spring 2002.
Telekom's move marks the first subscription-based plan for mobile data services in Europe. Currently, users are charged by the minute for dialing in to the Internet with their cellphones, and for text messages they send to one another. In Japan, NTT DoCoMo is successful with its subscription-based I-mode wireless service.
Subscription to T-Motion will be open both to T-Mobil customers and to those of competitor networks. Users will get access to information such as sport and financial news, games, ringtones and greeting cards.
"I think it's uninspiring," says Thorsten Wichmann, analyst at Berlin-based market research firm Berlecon Research. "The content they offer is broad, mass-market ware – nothing special or customized. I don't believe many users will be ready to sign up and pay this much for it."
The T-Motion subscription fee does not include the connection cost, which has to be paid additionally by the minute. Wichmann says it would be more promising if T-Motion offered bundles. "If an amount of X text messages would be included in the package, this would be more attractive," he says.
At the moment, all mobile operators have portals very similar to T-Motion's. There are a number of operator-independent mobile portals, as well, such as Yahoo Germany, Iobox (owned by Spain's Telefonica), Zed (owned by Finland's Sonera) or the startup Jamba.
The operators' portals usually offer their services for free, relying on revenues from the connection charges. The independent portals have recently started to use prepaid schemes, charging micro-amounts for ringtones, customized news or on-demand information.
"Sonera Zed's model is much more interesting because it is really tailored for a specific target group, young users," Wichmann says. They have very relevant information on things like the Love Parade or MTV, which is much more appealing than T-Motion's broad portfolio."
However, Wichmann doesn't think the purpose of T-Motion's subscription is to generate much revenue: "I see this rather as a testbed for users' expectations and as a general signal to the users that they should soon expect to pay for wireless information."
