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EE is to offer the music streaming service free for six months, with Telekom Deutschland rumoured to be next in line.
EE has become the second operator globally to announce it will offer free Apple Music services to its postpaid subscribers for six months, following a similar offer launched by Telstra last year.
It is also rumoured that Telekom Deutschland will announce a comparable deal for its subscribers next week: iPhone-ticker.de said Deutsche Telekom’s domestic operator will announce a six-month free Apple Music offer at the IFA trade show in Berlin.
Unlike Telstra, however, BT-owned EE is not providing the free service on a zero-rated basis. This means that use of the music streaming service will deplete the monthly data allowances included in mobile contracts.
It also seems unlikely that Telekom Deutschland will take the zero-rated approach: the operator only recently scrapped its zero-rated offer for Spotify services with effect from 2 August because of the growth in data traffic. Telekom Deutschland does still offer free Spotify services for a month under its Music Plus option.
EE is to start its free Apple Music service from 1 September. Once the free six-month period has expired, the service will cost £9.99 a month.
The Apple Music offer will be open to iOS and Android smartphone users, EE said. Once registered, customers will be able to use the service on their EE smartphone as well as on Apple iPad, Apple TV, Apple Macs and PCs.
The Apple Music offer follows EE’s recent announcement that it would provide free BT Sport services to subscribers within new 4G plans, building on its strategy to offer inclusive content in order to build customer loyalty and reduce churn.
However, the BT Sport promotion has already incurred the wrath of EE’s UK rival Virgin Media, which accused BT of breaching a contract covering wholesale access to the BT Sport package.
Meanwhile the provision of free and/or zero-rated content services such as music and social media remains an ongoing trend. In Sweden, for example, Three Sweden provides zero-rated access to Spotify, Deezer, Tidal, Google Music, SoundCloud or Apple Music with a data allowance of up to 70 GB. Telia Sweden also offers zero-rated music and social media plans.
