Vodafone Italia has launched a series of new targeted “winback” offers to persuade customers to return to the operator. These include one with 30 GB of data and unlimited calls to all numbers for €7.00 (US $8.08) per month (plus a €6.00 [US $6.92] activation fee) for customers of competitors Iliad and 3 Italia, as well as for subscribers to any MVNOs. TIM and Wind customers may receive 50 GB of data plus unlimited calls for €15.00 (US $17.30) per month, while Wind customers may also get 20 GB and unlimited calls for €10.00 (US $11.54). The offers are available until 27 August.

Tarifica’s Take

Vodafone Italia is getting aggressive in trying to repair any damage done through subscribers lost to its rivals. These offers extend quite generous data and voice allowances to current customers of other operators in the Italian market, and we imagine that these offers could be very persuasive, if assessed in sheer economic terms. For customers of budget operators such as Iliad and MVNOs in general, the offers are even more generous that those aimed at customers of major rivals TIM and Wind, which is appropriate in light of the fact that budget-minded customers will need bigger incentives.

It is not clear if the “winback” offers are available only to former subscribers of Vodafone, but in any case, one must wonder whether extra-low prices for lots of data and unlimited voice calls will be enough to win back all of those who left the operator. Some may have gone over to other operators for reasons other than pricing, such as, for example, network quality or customer service. In theory, at least, any operator would have to address all of the reasons for subscriber loss in order to ensure that it will not happen again.