Joe Mobile — Wikipedia

Joe Mobile was a virtual mobile network operator (MVNO), a subsidiary of SFR, officially launched the October 23, 2012 ^{[ first ]} . Unlike the SFR series Red brand (the competitor of B & You de Bouygues Telecom and Sosh d’Orange offers), Joe was an independent SFR offer which was a response to the arrival of Free Mobile on the mobile telephony market in mobile telephony in mobile telephony France ^{[ 2 ]} : In particular, it copies the offers, with two packages offered without mobile. Its founder is Mathieu Horn, the concept inspired in part of work carried out 3 years earlier by the SFR marketing management around the so -called PVNO (Personal Virtual Network Operator) offers that gave an essential place to customer communities.

Like its competitors, everything is done online on the website, including subscription.

The operator wants to be close to the customer, active on social networks and on the community by regularly offering small contests, and by involving its members in bimonthly articles.

END mars 2015 , the SFR operator announces the closure of Joe Mobile to the May 15 For the benefit of Virgin Mobile, MVNO bought by SFR-NUMERICABLE. THE November 9, 2015 , Patrick Drahi announced that the Virgin Mobile brand would disappear to avoid shading SFR Red offers, which generate a second disturbance for old Joe Mobile subscribers ^{[ 3 ]} .

Joe Mobile, as a subsidiary and customer of SFR, had independent results, treated his invoices on his behalf and had his own team (around 30 people), based on SFR premises in La Défense but isolated from the latter. The company’s “startup” spirit is also an opportunity to reduce costs, with customer service only available online.
At the time of launch, Mathieu Horn wants to convince “several hundred thousand customers” in a few months. At first, a sponsorship system is set up to reduce the cost of the package: each registered registration brings in its sponsors a prize pool of 5 euros to buy package or pay additional options.

After a month of existence, the first 5,000 subscriptions put on sale as a test would not have passed ^{[ 4 ] , [ 5 ]} And the competing offers have adjusted to the situation ^{[ 6 ]} . Joe Mobile reviews his offer ^{[ 7 ]} And announces the launch of a communication campaign to the general public.

Joe Mobile had a web page to manage his online package and compose it “à la carte”. It was possible to choose a combination of voice, SMS/MMS and data, and to change it over time or to suspend it as desired for a period of 6 months while keeping the line number during this duration . By default, certain services are blocked, in particular calls abroad, surcharged numbers, SMS+ and MMS+.

The offers are close to the “pre-paid” with blocking in the event of exceeding and invoicing over 30 days. But automatic renewal brings it closer to the package, as specified The echoes :

“But it looks furiously like a package because customers are automatically debited at the start of the month, unless otherwise indicated on their part. The bet was that inertia would lead consumers to re-engage as long as they are not disappointed. The SFR subsidiary thus benefits from the advantages of the prepaid: money that returns at the start of each month, and not consumed minutes at the end of the month that was still paid. SFR needed these new subscribers: in the first half of 2012, faced with the assault launched by Free Mobile with its package at 2 euros, SFR lost 521,000 prepaid customers, more than Orange (-410,000) and Bouygues Telecom (-460,000) ^{[ 8 ]} . »

In mars 2014 , Joe Mobile launches his 4G offers while 4G plans in general are already available from all of his competitors, MVNOS and operators ^{[ 9 ]} .

The operator had the particularity of not having customer service by phone or by email. Again, everything is done online: advisers are there to respond via forms.

The Joe Mobile community, which brings together users, advisers, community managers , answers 24/7 via the community forum on the site. This online community system has proven itself in several operators.