Telecom Italia (TIM) has launched a new promotion to encourage mobile customers to try out its 5G network, according to a report. Under the 5G On offer, anyone with an active data plan and a compatible handset can try out 5G at download speeds of up to 2 Gbps and upload speeds of 150 Mbps free of charge for a month, rising to €5.00 (US $5.93) a month thereafter.
The one-month trial is only available when the 5G On offer is activated via the operator’s website.
To date, TIM’s 5G network has been switched on in the cities of Milan, Benevento, Ferrara, Bologna, Genoa, Sanremo, Brescia, Monza, Genoa, Florence, Naples, Turin and Rome, as well as some tourist resorts such as Cortina d’Ampezzo, Livigno and Selva di Val Gardena.
The operator intends to extend the network to all the country’s main cities, tourist destinations and industrial districts by the end of this year and achieve full national 5G coverage by 2025.
Tarifica’s Take
Given that operators invest a great deal of money in purchasing spectrum and developing and rolling out 5G networks, it is essential that they incentivize customers to use the networks. If uptake lags, so will revenue and ROI. In general, it is operators’ interest to maximize the use of their networks, and that is even more true when it comes to recently launched cutting-edge networks.
Many subscribers, even high-end ones, are to some degree skeptical of the need for ultra-high speeds. They may feel that they are satisfied with the results they get from 4G/LTE signals, or they may have heard that real-world 5G service falls short of the advertised speeds. The best way to overcome these doubts and objections is to allow the users to experience the service for themselves. And the best way to accomplish that is to offer the service free of charge for a limited period of time. The amount of revenue lost to the operator by not charging for a month will be more than offset by the eventual revenue generated by a subscription to the 5G service.
The one sticking point is that a 5G-compatible device is required, and some users may have non-compatible phones. Getting 5G handsets into the hands of as many consumers as possible is just as important as making the network affordable. TIM may have already pursued this goal, or it may have decided that for various reasons, possession of 5G devices has reached a critical mass.