LONDON, Nov. 1, 2001 (PRIMEZONE)-- NTL Incorporated (NYSE:NLI):
-- NTL is the First Cable Company to Introduce Fourth Component to the
Bundle
-- November 5, 2001, Television, Fixed Line Telephone, Internet and
Mobile Phone Services will be Available From NTL
-- Simple, Straightforward Service Offers an Affordable Alternative to
Pre-Paid Mobile.
NTL Incorporated (NYSE:NLI) (Nasdaq Europe:NTLI), the leading broadband communications company, and Orange, the U.K.'s most popular mobile phone service, have today announced the launch of a new mobile phone service, tailor-made for NTL's existing and prospective residential customers across the U.K.
Available from November 5, the service will complement NTL's existing portfolio of fixed line telephony, digital interactive TV and broadband internet products. NTL will become the first cable company in Europe to introduce a fourth component to the bundle -- targeting increased ARPU, while adding value to the customer proposition.
NTL and Orange UK have designed the new mobile service to offer a simple, great value customer proposition that will compete aggressively with other mobile phone services. In addition, the service has been tailor-made to be of greater value and benefit to NTL customers; for example calls from NTL fixed line services to NTL mobile phones will be up to 30% cheaper than calls to other mobile networks.
The service will be marketed as part of the NTL Home proposition, and will provide Orange UK with access to a significant new customer base. Orange UK will be responsible for customer registration, service and billing.
The three Orange-branded handsets cost from $19.99 pounds, while at $9.99 pounds the monthly access fee is highly competitive, positioning the service as an affordable alternative to pre-paid options. Call charges eliminate the usual complicated peak/off-peak and sliding price structure usually associated with mobile services, to provide a simple and straightforward tariff. The new service is subject to availability and to Orange UK's standard terms and conditions.
Stephen Carter, Managing Director of NTL said: "This is the beginning of an important and long-term alliance between NTL and Orange UK. Once again, NTL is leading the industry. We first launched our great value television, telephone and internet proposition in 1999, and from Monday we go one step further to provide the complete NTL connected home. Now you can get all the communication products you need from us, including mobile."
John Allwood, Executive Vice-President, Orange UK said: "We look forward to welcoming NTL customers to Orange. This is a great opportunity for Orange to gain access to NTL's customer base and, in the future bring them a wide range of value added services."
The launch of this new service is a demonstration of the synergies available between Orange UK, majority owned by France Telecom, and NTL, in which France Telecom has a strategic stake.
More on NTL's new mobile phone service:
-- Handsets available to customers include the Siemens C35s at
$19.99 pounds, the Nokia 3330 at $39.99 pounds, and the Motorola
Ti250 at $59.99 pounds
-- Monthly rental is $9.99 pounds
-- Calls from mobile cost 10p per minute, anytime (except to other
mobile networks)
-- Calls to other mobile networks cost 40p per minute
-- Calls from an NTL Home fixed line to an NTL mobile are 30%
cheaper than the standard rates for calls made from an NTL
Home fixed line to an Orange phone.
More on NTL:
-- NTL offers a wide range of communications services to homes and business customers throughout the UK, Ireland, Switzerland, France, Germany and Sweden. Over 20 million homes are located within the NTL's group franchise areas, covering major European cities including London, Paris, Frankfurt, Zurich, Stockholm, Geneva, Dublin, Manchester and Glasgow. NTL and its affiliates collectively serve more than 8.5 million residential cable telephony and Internet customers.
-- In the UK, over 11 million homes are located within NTL's fiber-optic broadband network, which covers nearly 50% of the U.K. including, London, Manchester, Nottingham, Oxford, Cambridge, Cardiff, Glasgow and Belfast. NTL now serves more than 2.8 million on-net residential, cable telephony and Internet customers and approximately 1.5 million off-net Internet and telephony customers, across the U.K.
-- NTL has more than 77,000 UK business customers, including Royal Bank of Scotland, Tesco, Comet, AT&T and Orange. NTL offers a broad range of technologies and resources to provide complete multi-service solutions for businesses from large corporations to local companies.
-- NTL has a 40-year history in Broadcast TV and radio transmission and helped pioneer the technologies of the digital age. 22 million homes watch ITV, C4 and C5 thanks to NTL's broadcast transmitters.
More on Orange:
-- Orange, wire-free and any other Orange product or service referred to in this release are trademarks of Orange.
--Orange provides a broad range of personal communications services, including Orange GSM 1800 services and other digital cellular telephone services.
--In August 2000,Orange plc was acquired by France Telecom, leading to the creation of Europe's second largest mobile operator. The new Orange has operations in 20 countries across Europe and beyond, and aims to have a presence in 50 countries worldwide by 2005.
-- As at the end of September 2001, Orange had over 12.2 million customers in the U.K., 16.6 million in France and 37 million controlled customers worldwide.
-- In May 2001, for the fourth consecutive year, the J.D. Power and Associates study on the UK mobile market ranked Orange number one for customer satisfaction.
-- Orange provides high quality coverage to 99% of the U.K. population and over 80% of the geographic area. Coverage is based on hand portable, unlike some other operators, which choose to base their coverage on boosted car kits.
-- Orange UK now offers roaming on 254 networks in 114 countries.
--Information about Orange can be found on the Orange Website at www.orange.co.uk and media information can be found at www.orange.com