T-Mobile Netherlands Business has launched a new subscription which provides unlimited calling and texting between the Netherlands, the EU and the U.S. for a fixed monthly rate. The price of the service, called simply International, starts at €35.00 (US $39.40), which includes 1 GB worth of data for the Netherlands and 1 GB extra for roaming within Europe; the deal can also be supplemented every month with an additional internet bundles of 5 GB (€40.00 or US $45.00), 10 GB (€45.00 or US $50.60) and 20 GB (€55.00 or US $61.90) per month. T-Mobile NL has also introduced Altijd, a deal with unlimited calling and text messages starting at €15.00 (US $16.90) per month, plus 200 minutes for the EU and the U.S. Altijd, which is aimed at business customers who work mainly in the Dutch market but also make occasional trips abroad, also can be supplemented with additional internet bundles at monthly rates ranging from €19.00 (US $21.40) to €40.00 (US $45.00).

Tarifica’s Take

This offer from T-Mobile Netherlands Business is notably generous—because of its unlimited international calls and texts but also because of its large dollop of included data and roaming data. As the EU gears up for no more roaming surcharges, T-Mobile’s business plan represents a strong gambit to acquire customers ahead of the mid-2017 deadline, and to retain them after that date by offering something better than simply “roam like home” (that is, a lack of distinction between domestic and international fee structures). Since business customers are more likely than ordinary consumers to travel and spend a significant time outside their home country and to consume large quantities of mobile services while doing so, the business demographic is an ideal target for such a suite of plans. (The operator stated that about half of its business customers do business abroad or with international partners.) The flexibility of T-Mobile’s offerings with regard to the supplemental data bundles should have the effect of making International and Altijd even more attractive. Provided that T-Mobile can continue to afford to provide these services at such advantageous rates going forward, we feel that these plans will be very competitive and will drive revenue to the operator.