Speaking of promotions, O2 Germany is offering a special discounted plan available through the provider’s Facebook page. The O2 Blue Select provides free on-net calls, free SMS within Germany and 300 MB of free data per month at €17.99 for the first year and €19.99 for the second year of a two-year contract. The usual price for such services is €29.99.

Tarifica’s Take

By using Facebook as the platform for this aggressive promotion, O2 is targeting the large youth market, the heaviest user group of social media. This approach, we believe, is an excellent way to attract customers in this coveted demographic, and something other operators should consider adopting. Of course, Facebook is free to join and by no means the exclusive province of the young, so O2 should not be surprised if its offer ends up cannibalizing its existing business to some extent, as current subscribers and others not in the target group go on Facebook just to get the discount.

Promotions such as this, and the aforementioned one from T-Mobile, underscore the fact that in the current highly-saturated and competitive mobile marketplace, innovative and well thought out pricing strategies can have a material impact on an operator’s level of success. In fact, notwithstanding the ongoing drive to add sophisticated, new features and services, pricing remains a key method by which an operator can differentiate itself from the competition.