Congstar, the discount brand of Deutsche Telekom, has launched a new promotion offering a €20.00 (US $22.50) starting credit to new customers who subscribe to a “Congstar wie ich will” (Congstar As I Want It) postpaid plan by 30 June. Subscribers can choose from 100, 300 or 500 service units, with options costing €2.00 (US $2.25), €4.00 (US $4.50) or €8.00 (US $9.00) per 30 days. Heavy data users, as well as those who use up their selected data allowance, can add a Data Turbo option for an additional €5.00 per month, in which the maximum data speed doubles to up to 14 Mbps. Alternatively, subscribers can add 100 MB for €2.00 as often as they like. Customers not selecting any options will pay €0.09 (US $0.01) per minute or per text to any German network, and they can buy a daily data pass worth 200 MB for €1.00 (US $1.12).

Tarifica’s Take

Flexibility has emerged as one of the most important demands among consumers of mobile services—especially when it comes to data allotments and especially among budget-minded consumers and younger consumers. This desire for flexibility in plan features has been associated with an unwillingness to be tied down to long-term commitments; thus the prevalence of flexible data in prepaid plans. Congstar, however, is making this feature a key element of its postpaid plan “Congstar wie ich will,” allowing subscribers to alter their data allowances from month to month, add extra data at will, or even buy their data by the day. The plan even includes variability by data speed. We believe this is a savvy move that will help the operator profit from the data-use habits of an in-between demographic, more committed than a typical prepaid customer but more wary of being locked into standard data allotments than the typical postpaid customer. Also, offering a substantial credit up-front on a short-term, promotional basis should be effective in driving business to the operator.