The Post Office aims to tap into its existing customer base with the launch of a low-cost mobile virtual network operator (MVNO).
The service, w hich was unveiled nearly a year ago and came to market late last week, some six months later than scheduled, runs on EE’s mobile network.
It is aimed at price-conscious, pay-as-you-go users, predominantly those that already use the various services offered by the Post Office.
"Mobile will add to our 170-plus essential services, which we already provide to our customers, including home phone and broadband," said Martin George, the Post Office’s commercial director, in a statement. The firm noted that customers use the Post Office for around 11 million top-up transactions a year, and therefore described the move into mobile as "a natural step".
"Many Pay as You Go customers are paying really high call charges and shouldn’t be," George said. Post Office Mobile provides "great value and simple prices," he said.
Voice calls to fixed and mobile numbers are charged at 8 pence per minute (€0.11), while text messages cost 10 pence and data is 10p per megabyte. Customers can also buy top-up bundles, which start at £5 for 250 voiced minutes, 3,000 text messages and 500 MB of data. Post Office Mobile will also double customers’ top-up amounts once per month, with the free credit lasting for 30 days.
Top-ups can be done online or at one of the Post Office’s 11,500 U.K. branches. Customers can sign up for the service on the firm’s Website or over the phone, or at one of 213 branches in the North West of the country; further outlets will be added going forward.
Post Office Mobile did not provide much information about its data offering. When it announced the MVNO deal with EE in July last year, the mobile network operator confirmed that the agreement includes access to its 4G network, but said it would be up to the Post Office to decide when and where to make 4G services available to customers.
A spokesperson for the Post Offi ce said the company would provide more information at a later date.
