Inclusive services
By 2007 there are likely to be as many mobile phones in Western Europe as there are people. We believe it is important that mobile services are accessible to all types of customers, regardless of cost, special needs, age, knowledge and geography.
Consumer differences create what is often referred to as the 'digital divide' and we try to address each one to make sure as many people as possible can benefit from mobile communications.
For example, we offer pre-pay packages in each of our markets. This service enables customers to control the cost of using a mobile without committing to a contract or post-pay deal. In total, almost 60 per cent of our subscriber base elect to use pre-pay services.
In the UK and Germany we have introduced a service that is available at lower cost in chosen locations - usually close to a customer's home or business. We believe this service will make our services accessible to more people.
O2 can review usage and contact customers if we notice call patterns which are not typical, or appear to be excessive. In cases where we are unable to contact the customer to confirm call activity, we can impose a bar which only allows the customer to receive calls. If a call is made from the handset, the call is re-routed to O2 Customer Services which allows us to confirm recent call activity with the customer. We also offer advice on our website to customers wishing to bar any premium text adult and chat services as well as guidance on how to stop subscription-based premium messaging services.
During 2004, O2 Ireland helped connect people in remote areas to wireless broadband services, and in the Isle of Man we are modifying street junction boxes to extend fixed-line broadband coverage which is now available to around 99 per cent of homes. In all our markets we offer a variety of mobile tariffs to suit our customers' needs and lifestyles.
During the year, we unveiled exclusive plans to launch the i-mode® mobile internet service, in the UK and Ireland in 2005. In Germany we will launch a mobile internet service with the same functionality under a different brand. In both cases we are working with specialists from NTT DoCoMo to bring this easy-to-use product with its breadth of tailored internet content to market.
We examine ways making our services more inclusive, particularly to those with special needs. We have taken part in the UK Government's Digital Inclusive Panel and helped launch the UK Digital Strategy. We now comply with the General Code 15 and the Code of Practice for Service Delivery for the Disabled and Elderly in the UK and we belong to the Employers Forum for the Disabled and the Two Ticks scheme, which raises disability awareness among employers.
We already make special provisions - like invoicing in Braille, larger text size, audio options and by providing a fully accessible website, O2 Access, for people with visual impairment. But we want to do more.
While we have moved with the trend towards more sophisticated handsets, we are aware, too, that simple phone designs may help certain customers, particularly elderly ones. The vibrate mode of mobile text messaging is also a simple but effective function for the hard of hearing.
In Ireland we launched a 'talking' mobile phone in 2004, developed through our relationship with The National Council for the Blind. This converts text messages to voice.
We are encouraged by the experiences of the more mature mobile markets in Korea and Japan and by youth research into mobile applications in the UK which suggest that, increasingly, the mobile phone is becoming a powerful, spontaneous and inclusive learning tool for young people.
For example, in time for May 2005 UK General Election we launched a special site on our O2 Active WAP portal to tell customers, especially first-time voters, how to find their polling station or check to see if they were registered to vote.
During the year, we also began to address the potential problems associated with new mobile data services, such as bulk unsolicited messages, also known as spam.
