Vodafone UK enters the 5G FWA fracas

Vodafone UK has debuted its 5G Gigacube to further expand its connectivity portfolio, perhaps gaining more of a foothold in the broadband market.

Although Vodafone is primarily associated with the mobile segment in the UK, it has been making positive moves in the broadband market over the last twelve months. Having signed a partnership with CityFibre last year to deliver fibre broadband services, the 5G Gigacube offers another twist to the portfolio.

Vodafone claims the 5G Gigacube can offers speeds of up-to 1 Gbps, the dreaded conditional statement which been suggested to mislead customers, while 64 devices can be connected simultaneously, and the range can be as great as 90 metres. There are still a lot of unknowns and nuanced language in these statements, but it does seem to be priced competitively as you can see below:

Interestingly enough, there have also been some clues into the way in which it will be marketed.

Due to the offering being mobile by nature, there aren’t geographical limitations, in theory. If you are a small business without a fixed office, the plug and play feature allows you to effectively carry connectivity wherever you are. This could be applied to a variety of situations, such a pop-up restaurants or bars, and could potentially open-up new markets for broadband products.

It also tackles another interesting challenge in the consumer broadband market. When a customer moves home, there is no guarantee that customer will be retained; it depends on offers which are available wherever that customers actually moves to. With a plug and play, mobile driven, broadband solution, contracts can be retained irrelevant as to where the customer lives.

Although we have been teased with the launch of the 5G Gigacube over the last couple of weeks, its debut today completes the puzzle when it comes to convergence.

Convergence is one of the most consistent buzzwords over the last couple of years, but that is for a very good reason. Not only are convergent customers more likely to be retained year-on-year, it increases the profitability of subscriptions. Most telcos would rather have one million customers taking two services than two million taking one, and this product offers Vodafone another opportunity to make the most of the buzz.

Announced earlier this month, as the telco switched on its 5G networks, Vodafone will offer a convergence connectivity product, combining a home wifi solution with mobile for £50 a month. And to sweeten the deal, customers will also receive an Amazon Alexa speaker for free.

Vodafone has largely been viewed as an ‘also-ran’ over the last decade, O2 and EE have built a considerable leadership position, though the former-market leader has been rebuilding over the last few years.

The turnaround in the business does seem to coincide with the introduction of Vodafone UK CEO Nick Jeffery. During his tenure, the team has built a converged network, Redstream, addressed customer service with the introduction of chatbots, the retirement of legacy IT systems, reinvigorating the brand and creating a business which is contextually relevant. Although this is not mission complete, you can see the progress which has been made.

Vodafone feels like a new business at the moment and it couldn’t have happened at a better time. The world is about to enter into a new era of connectivity with 5G and FWA challenging traditional home broadband. Vodafone is positioning itself very well.