BroadBand User Service - UKPlus
Post Office
Post Office is one of the brands of the Royal Mail Group offering a gamut of services including financial transactions, banking, travel agency, telecoms and phonecards, as well as the traditional postal service. It is the largest financial services and retail chain in the UK, with nearly 12,500 branches. Post Office launched its broadband services on 17 October 2007, five months after its initial announcement. The operator deploys the service on a 'white label managed service' platform offered by BT Wholesale. Earlier, on 10 January 2005, the operator launched its HomePhone service. It had 400,000 HomePhone customers as of October 2007. As of June 2008, Point Topic's Consumer Survey indicated that Post Office had under 80,000 broadband customers. In 2007, Post Office derived 10% of its revenues from its HomePhone service. The operator expects to increase the contribution of telecom services to its revenues to 25% by 2011, with its total customer base for phone and broadband service projected to be over one million.
Network Type & Services Offered
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| Residential |
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| Wholesale |
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| Bundled services | Post Office offers bundled DSL and phone services at tariffs lower than the cumulative tariffs of the individual services. |
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| Additional services | Fixed telephony |
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Standalone Tariffs| Name | Customer Group | Access Type | Up Kbps | Down Kbps | Activation Charge | Install Charge | Equipment Charge | Monthly Rental | Usage charge (per MB) | Tax inc | Currency code | Features | Promotional Offers | Notes |
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| Post Office Broadband Standard | Residential | ADSL | | 8,000 | | | | 16.30 | | ✔ | GBP | 5 GB data transfer limit; 50MB of web space; basic email and anti-virus security; modem; 24 hour technical support; 5 email addresses; webmail; 12 month contract applies
| GBP 50.00 credit given to new customers taking Post Office broadband before 31 March 2012. | Line rental extra.
New telephone line - GBP 110.00.
| | Post Office Broadband Extra | Residential | ADSL | | 8,000 | | | | 21.40 | | ✔ | GBP | Unlimited data transfer; 50MB of web space; PC security suite including parental controls; wireless router; 24 hour technical support; 5 email addresses; webmail; fair usage policy and 12 month contract apply
| GBP 50.00 credit given to new customers taking Post Office broadband before 31 March 2012. | Line rental extra.
New telephone line - GBP 110.00.
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Bundled Tariffs| Name | Bundle Type | Customer Group | Access Type | Up Kbps | Down Kbps | Activation Charge | Install Charge | Equipment Charge | Monthly Rental | Usage charge (per MB) | Tax inc | Currency code | Features | Promotional Offers | Notes |
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| Post Office HomePhone with Broadband Extra | Broadband, Fixed Telephony | Residential | ADSL | | 8,000 | | | | 26.05 | | ✔ | GBP | Free evening & weekend calls to UK landlines; free HomePhone to HomePhone calls at any time; free weekend calls to mobiles in 40 international destinations including UK, USA and Canada; Post Office Broadband Extra service; 12 month contract apply for broadband service | GBP 50.00 credit given to new customers taking Post Office broadband and phone service bundle before 31 March 2012. | Line rental included | | Post Office HomePhone with Broadband Standard | Broadband, Fixed Telephony | Residential | ADSL | | 8,000 | | | | 21.40 | | ✔ | GBP | Free evening & weekend calls; free HomePhone to HomePhone calls at any time; free weekend calls to mobiles in 40 international destinations including UK, USA and Canada; Post Office Broadband Standard service; 12 month contract apply for broadband service | GBP 50.00 credit given to new customers taking Post Office broadband and phone service bundle before 31 March 2012. | Line rental included |
Financial Performance| Date | Total revenue | EBITDA | Net profit | ARPU | Notes |
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| 27 Mar 2005 | 8,956,000,000 | 422,000,000 | 151,000,000 | | Figures in GBP; Group's revenue for the year | | 25 Sep 2005 | 4,378,000,000 | 224,000,000 | 91,000,000 | | Figures in GBP; Group's revenue for six months | | 26 Mar 2006 | 9,056,000,000 | 497,000,000 | 395,000,000 | | Figures in GBP; Group's revenue for the year | | 24 Sep 2006 | 4,439,000,000 | 99,000,000 | 13,000,000 | | Figures in GBP; Group's revenue for six months | | 25 Mar 2007 | 9,104,000,000 | 392,000,000 | 286,000,000 | | Figures in GBP; Group's revenue for the year | | 30 Mar 2008 | 9,238,000,000 | 351,000,000 | 135,000,000 | | Figures in GBP; Group's revenue for the year | | 28 Sep 2008 | 4,648,000,000 | | | | Figures in GBP; Group's revenue for six months | | 30 Mar 2009 | 9,560,000,000 | | -229,000,000 | | Figures in GBP; Group's revenue for the year | | 28 Sep 2009 | 4,575,000,000 | | | | Figures in GBP; Group's revenue for six months | | 28 Mar 2010 | 9,349,000,000 | | -320,000,000 | | Figures in GBP; Group's revenue for the year | | 26 Sep 2010 | 4,402,000,000 | | -146,000,000 | | Figures in GBP; Group's revenue for six months | | 27 Mar 2011 | 9,156,000,000 | | -258,000,000 | | Figures in GBP; Group's revenue for the year | | 25 Sep 2011 | 4,606,000,000 | | 176,000,000 | | Figures in GBP; Group's revenue for six months |
Network Architecture and Development| Headline | Details |
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| HomePhone launch | On 10 January 2005, Post Office launched its HomePhone landline service. It announced that it would offer a 20% discount over prevailing BT call rates to its customers. | | Network | Post Office deploys its broadband service on a 'white label managed service' platform offered by BT Wholesale. |
Marketing Programs| Headline | Details |
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| New service packages | On 5 June 2007, Post Office revised its HomePhone service packages by offering free evening and weekend calls to UK landlines and free calls at anytime to another HomePhone line for its telephony customers. | | Reduction in line rental | On 27 July 2005, Post Office reduced the line rental prices of its HomePhone service bringing it to the lowest in the UK. | | Discount offer | On 13 March 2006, announced limited time offer of GBP 50 discount on the telephone bills for customers signing for its HomePhone service before 31 March 2006. | | Advertising campaign | On 24 October 2007, Post Office released an advertising campaign worth GBP 10 million featuring the Westlife band to promote its newly launched broadband services. | | Marketing initiatives | With 14,300 local post office branches and over 24 million walk-in customers to these branches, Post Office aims to reach out to a wider section of people in promoting its broadband services. It is certainly one of the best-placed organisations to reach the segment of society which does not yet have access to the interrnet from home. | | Directory enquiries service | On 30 January 2006, Post Office launched directory enquiries services for its HomePhone customers, claiming to provide the most competitive call rates for such enquiries in the UK. | | Over the counter payment | On 24 October 2007, Post Office announced an option for customers to pay cash at Post Offices for broadband services. However, cash payment over the counter would attract a surcharge of GBP 1 per month. | | Market positioning | On 24 October 2007, Post Office announced the launch of its broadband service. The new services are primarily targeted at older-generation 50-65 year olds with a high disposable income who are going online for the first time - and customers wanting to pre-pay in cash. The extensive retail network of the operator makes it feasible for it to cater to this market segment. | | Price reduction | On 8 September 2008, Post Office cut the headline-price rental for its stand-alone and bundled broadband services by GBP 1 per month but at the same time withdrew the GBP 1 per month discount for paying by direct debit. | | Ofcom voluntary code | 5 December 2008: Post Office signed a new Ofcom voluntary code to be more transparent in its communication with the customers. As per the code, the operator is required to inform the customer the true broadband speed the customer's line can support and what factors would result in loss of speed for the customer. The code also requires the operator to explain the fair usage policy to its customers and alert them when they have been violated. | | Reduction in VAT | 1 December 2008: Post Office reduced the prices of its services as a result of fall in VAT from 17.50% to 15%, effective immediately.
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Business Partners and Content Deals| Headline | Details |
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| BT | On 17 May 2007, Post Office signed a four year agreement worth GBP 750 million with BT to provide wholesale communications services for the Post Office to resell to its customers. This has been the largest single contract for BT Wholesale. |
Equipment Suppliers| Headline | Details |
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| Netgear | Post Office offers Netgear DM111P modem with its broadband packages to the customers. |
Company History and Development| Headline | Details |
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| HomePhone customers | On 2 June 2005, Post Office HomePhone had 100,000 customers, within less than six months of the service launch. By October 2007 it had reached 400,000 customers. | | History | The postal and telecommunications services in the UK were combined in one organisation, the General Post Office or GPO, until 1981 when they were split up to allow the privatisation of BT. The Post Office ventured back into the telecoms market again on 10 January 2005 with the launch of its HomePhone fixed telephony service. It aimed at achieving a 5% market share by reaching 1 million customers within five years. | | Broadband launch announcement | On 17 May 2007, Post Office announced its plan to launch broadband services deployed on 'white label managed services' platform offered by BT Wholesale. In a deal worth GBP 750 million, the operator would be reselling BT's services on BT's platform without having to incur infrastructural development and maintenance costs and risks. The services became operational by 17 October 2007 with the launch of two broadband packages with speeds up to 8 Mbps. The operator also launched broadband bundled with its HomePhone fixed telephony service.. |
Sources
[9149], [9151], [9152], [10140], [11003], [11004], [11887], [12266], [12829], [13095], [13715], [14515], [14516], [15548], [16311], [17119], [17917], [18918], [19789], [20414], [21216], [22398], [23047], [23855]
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