Tele.RRING – Wikipedia
tele.ring was an Austrian mobile phone brand from the telecommunications company Magenta Telekom, known until spring 2019 under the name T-Mobile Austria. The brand was discontinued on March 23, 2020. [first] [2] [3]
Tele.ring was founded in 1997 by the largest Austrian electricity group network, the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) and the Graz Stadtwerkhaling Citykom Austria as a landline and internet provider. In 1998 Mannesmann mobile phone participated in the company. With the acquisition of the mobile license, Mannesmann Mobilfunk wanted to offer his own customers the possibilities of a network in Austria. Mannesmann pursued the goal of becoming a Central European provider (Germany, Austria, Italy, Hungary).
At the end of 2000, Mannesmann-now himself part of the Vodafone Group-took over 100% of the shares in Tele.ring. [4] Due to the strategic goal of the Vodafone, either the largest or the second largest mobile operator in a country, Tele.ring was already resold in 2001 for a symbolic amount of ten euros to the US group Western Wireless International, a daughter of Western Wireless . Tele.ring was completely owed. The UMTS license was later transferred for another symbolic euro.
In mid-2005, Western Wireless was taken over by the US telecom company Alltel. Alltel wanted to sell all international western wireless daughters-including Tele.ring. The political controversy for the introduction of a transmission system on mobile phone masts in Lower Austria is said to have delayed the sale, [5] Non -binding bids are said to have reached 1.5 billion euros. At the beginning of August 2005, Alltel and T-Mobile Austria agreed on the sale of Tele.ring for around 1.3 billion euros ($ 1.6 billion).
The workforce and employee representatives were initially against the sale. After the Tele.Ring owner promised special payments for the Tele.Ring employee and T-Mobile had given an employment guarantee by the end of June 2006, the workforce released a strike.
On August 4, 2005 approved T-Mobile International Also officially the purchase of Tele.ring, on August 10, 2005 the purchase contracts were signed. After approval by the EU cartel authorities and the Austrian regulatory authority merged T-Mobile Austria and Tele.ring on April 28, 2006. The brand name tele.ring was continued. T-Mobile could cost the takeover per tele.ring mobile radio customer almost 1,300 euros.
In February 2007, the Tele.Ring GSM network was partially switched off. In many places, the former Tele.Ring network with the network recognition 232-07 with the cell phone was no longer available. Instead, the end devices now had to be partially booked manually into the T-Mobile network.
According to T-Mobile, redundant transmission systems from Tele.ring were dismantled, others gradually integrated into the T-Mobile network. The LTE mobile radio network from Tele.Ring has been integrated into the T-Mobile network since it was taken over, the UMTS network was switched off at the end of August 2006. Tele.ring customers used the network infrastructure of the Magenta Telekom after the takeover. After completing the work, around 40% were available for T-Mobile customers about 16% more broadcasts.
Tele.ring was able to get more cheaper due to aggressive pricing policy (with 1 cent per minute Way with the bacon even found a budget speech by Finance Minister Grasser and has now been incorporated into general Austrian language use) gain shares in the mobile phone market and thus create the basis for the company’s ability to survive-with a share of postpaid customers over 75% and a market share of 11.5% (as of April 2005). While other network operators invested in their networks and infrastructure, Tele.ring used its financial resources more into aggressive pricing policy and new customer acquisition – which was not possible for other companies due to their structure.
However, the price war was not without criticism: in particular, the unions were asked not to strive for cost leadership as the primary goal, as this would have lost many jobs or would have been lost. On the other hand, it is also argued that a price increase would rather lead to maximizing the profits of telecommunications companies than a more responsible labor market policy. Tele.ring was also the only GSM network operator in Austria, whose workforce did not shrank after 2002, but grew.
In 2003 Tele.ring achieved significant net profit for the first time, but a planned IPO had to be canceled due to US tax rules-the company mother Western Wireless or their shareholders should have taxed the proceeds. At the beginning of 2005, Tele.ring paid back all foreign debts prematurely. According to the market leader Mobilkom Austria, the company had the highest Ebitda margin and the highest brand awareness.
Through new competitors (such as Hutchison three Austria, Yesss! Or Bob), Tele.ring had received competition in the low tariff segment. With a longer response time, established mobile phone providers have also launched cheaper offers for internal telephony.
The table below shows the Tele.rings market share on the Austrian mobile phone customer market from the beginning of the activity as a mobile operator to the takeover by T-Mobile Austria.
| Year | Market [6] in % |
|---|---|
| In late 2000 | 1.63 |
| At the end of 2001 | 3.70 |
| At the end of 2002 | 4.40 |
| In late 2003 | 7,776 |
| In late 2004 | 11,274 |
| At the end of 2005 | 11,992 |
- ↑ Ingrid Perschl: Telering – 20 years of cheap prices and innovative tariffs. In: Magenta blog. T-Mobile Austria, February 4, 2020, accessed on March 25, 2020 : “On March 23, 2020, the Tele.ring brand will open in the new Magenta World.”
- ↑ Tele.ring is now a magenta. T-Mobile Austria, accessed on March 25, 2020 : “Tele.ring is … in the … network and the service world of Magenta.”
- ↑ Tele.ring opens in Magenta. After UPC, “get away with the bacon”. In: Wiener Zeitung online. February 4, 2020, accessed on March 25, 2020 .
- ↑ Presseext.austria: Tele.ring now 100 percent in Vodafone ownership. December 21, 2000, accessed on January 14, 2018 .
- ↑ New Austrian mobile phone tax delays Tele.Ring sales . Heise message
- ↑ Information about the Telekom market in Austria ( Memento from April 29, 2007 in Internet Archive )
Recent Comments