French postal operator La Poste is pushing forward its new mobile phone business with the launchof its full service range in 1,000 new post offices, with a total of 3,000 offices to market the
complete offering by the end of March this year.La Poste launched its new mobile phone business in cooperation with the French mobile phonecompany SFR through a joint subsidiary La Poste Mobile in May last year as part of itsdiversification strategy to expand its offering.
Under the partnership, La Poste has become a “virtual mobile phone operator’ handling marketingand sales through its post office network and other channels, while SFR provides the technical partof the service. La Poste owns 51% of the shares in the joint venture, in which SFR invested €98million.
By the end of 2011, La Poste Mobile counted more than 550,000 clients and expects to market thenew mobile phone service in more than 10,000 outlets of its post office network by the end of July2012.
The new service targets private customers, on a subscription or pre-paid card basis startingwith €5, and claims to be the first in the country not to oblige customers to fix a contractlength. The tariffs are the same whether peak or off-peak times.
Existing customers of La Poste Mobile will be able to profit from the same conditions as newcustomers every two years if they wish to renew their contract.
The postal operator said the investment in La Poste Mobile turned out to be successful with 98%of its customers showing themselves satisfied. La Poste added that it continues to further evolveits mobile phone offerings based on the customer expectations.
Italian postal operator Poste Italiane launched a similar mobile phone business in 2007 whichbecame profitable in 2010 with a net profit of €9.5 million and 2 million SIM cards sold.
