Spain’s fourth-ranking mobile operator, MasMovil, is offering a promotion that gives customers from 1 GB to 3 GB extra data per month if they maintain their plan for three months. During the promotion, customers on a €16.90 (US $18.03)-per-month Mas 1 GB plan will get 2 GB per month, while those on a €19.90 (US $21.23) Mas 3 GB plan will get 5 GB and those on a €26.90 (US $28.69) Mas 8 GB plan will get 11 GB. However, users must specifically request the extra data, during the period from 1 April to 30 April.

Tarifica’s Take

Spain’s three other mobile operators, Vodafone, Orange and Telefónica, all raised prices earlier this year, leading the country’s regulator, CNMC, to express concerns—particularly as the price hikes were being justified on the grounds of increased service quality and increased data allotments. In early March, MasMovil announced that it would not be joining its rivals in raising prices.

It would seem that keeping its prices lower while the competitors raise theirs would place MasMovil in an advantageous position in terms of attracting and retaining customers, so a special promotion would not be necessary at this time. And in its statement in early March in regard to the price hikes, MasMovil said that its rivals’ increases in data allotments were done “without consumers having previously requested them” and further stated that “the reality is that customers have to pay more for resources that, in many cases, they do not need.”

However, in offering more data to its customers, without price increases, MasMovil is showing that it recognizes that many customers want more data—even if they do not strictly speaking need it. And if they do not need to pay for it, they will certainly take it, and perhaps later on be willing to pay for more once their usage habits have shifted in an upward direction. MasMovil’s promotion requires that customers stay with the operator for a minimum of three months, so its motivation is clearly to prevent them from jumping to the rival MNOs. Evidently, in the minds of MasMovil’s executives, more data from its competitors is definitely a threat, even if it comes at higher prices.