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Stelios launches no-frills mobile contender
Aiming for a Danish repeat

By Jo Best

Published: Thursday 10 March 2005

No-frills mobile operator easyMobile has officially launched in the UK.

The venture is the latest addition to cheapo airline pioneer Stelios Haji-Iannou's empire and is concentrating on selling airtime and SMS without any bundling or handset subsidies. All voice minutes and texts will be sold at a single tariff - 15p per minute and 5p per text message - with no line rental charges.

The operator will also be selling its services exclusively over the internet and customer service will be minimal.

The newest UK operator will be run in partnership with Danish operators Telmore and TDC, with T-Mobile providing the network for Stelios' service provider to piggyback on. Frank Rasmussen, ex-head of Telmore, is CEO of the MVNO (mobile virtual network operator).

Rasmussen's Telmore operator was run on a similar model and, following the MVNO's entrance into Danish domestic market, prices halved and Telmore now has an 11 per cent market share.

To try to stimulate demand, prices for easyMobile from launch until June will be 3p per text and 9p per minute for calls.

Analysts are already betting on Stelios' success in the UK market.

A report from Strand Consulting said: "We believe that the launch of easyMobile in the UK will be a repeat of exactly what we have experienced in e.g. Denmark over the past four years. easyMobile's CEO Frank Rasmussen will act in way that has not been seen before in the UK. The phrase 'Guerrilla Marketing' will be an important element in how Frank Rasmussen and easyMobile will profile themselves."

Haji-Iannou hasn't been struggling to generate publicity since he announced his intention to launch the MVNO. Fellow mobile operator Orange has already filed a trademark suit over easyMobile's trademark use of the colour orange.