Vivo Empresas, Telefonica Brasil’s B2B segment, has started selling data or data packages with unlimited voice calling, for personal use, to professionals of companies that work with corporate mobile phones. The operator’s intention is to offer more practicality and autonomy to professionals and allow them to complement their company’s current plan and avoid the need to have another line and device. 

Prices for data plans from 1 GB to 10 GB will start at BRL 9.99 (US $2.39). Customers can also include unlimited calls to any operator for an additional BRL 5.00 (US $1.20).

Tarifica’s Take

With the prevalence of BYOD and the increasing interpenetration of home and work, personal and business, it makes sense for an operator to acknowledge these trends with an offering that blends the two aspects of mobile service.

In a company that already subscribes to business plans for its employees, at least some of those employees will gain some benefit from having access to further portions of data and voice minutes beyond what is allotted for use at work. Especially considering that they will likely be using the same smartphone for business and personal purposes, being able to extend the business subscription to personal use will simplify and streamline their mobile lives. While some employers may wish to pay for this service extension as a courtesy to their employees as means of building goodwill (and as it is not expensive, this gesture would not be difficult to make), others may simply pass the charge on to the employees.

The business-personal offering, then, is a good way for Telefonica Brasil, by way of Vivo Empresas, to have more subscribers within its ecosystem, rather than having them subscribe to other operators for their personal service. Brand loyalties built at work will likely bear fruit in the consumer sphere, not just immediately but in the longer term.