Have you ever heard of Uke? He's one of the most important gods in the Nordic pantheon – the guardian of information and sea tides, whose all-seeing eye observes, and whose tireless quill notes every decision made… 😅 Okay, maybe we're exaggerating a bit. UKE, or the Office of Electronic Communications, is a rather down-to-earth organization that quarterly delivers a report on the current state of the telecommunications market in Poland, which is the sea on which the Mobile Vikings drakkar sails. ⛵ Based on it, we want to give you a report on how we navigated these turbulent waters in the last months of 2020. Here is the UKE report through the eyes of the Vikings.
Gather ‘round, Vikings, and listen to a few facts about the longship called Mobile Vikings. It’s your network, after all, and you deserve reliable information about it. Besides, we just want to brag a little. And if you, reading this, aren't a Viking yet – allow us to introduce ourselves. 👋 We are Mobile Vikings, a community-based mobile operator where you can feel like a human, not a number. Come aboard and see for yourself, while we get down to the UKE report.
🌊 Polish Telecommunications Waters 🌊
Let’s start with some solid foundations. For some time now, in every quarter, approximately 400,000 phone numbers have been ported between individual operators on the Polish telecommunications market. ♻️ The entire procedure concerns both the largest infrastructure operators (Play, Orange, Plus, T-Mobile) and virtual operators, of which there are now several dozen – including, of course, us, Mobile Vikings. As you might guess, 2020 was not a typical year. The coronavirus (and-a-half! 💦) also reached our industry, causing a dip in the second quarter, visible in the chart below.
It’s not surprising – we remember how last spring most of our thought processes were dedicated to finding ways to stock up on even more toilet paper, recipes for homemade disinfectants, and balancing on the edge of madness confined within four walls. 🤪 The market losses have not yet been recovered.
⚔️ The Big Four vs. Virtual Operators ⚔️
The goal of an average operator is to acquire more numbers than are transferred to other networks. This is referred to as a positive net result. However, the scale of this process is also important. The Big Four, i.e., the infrastructure operators present in Poland (those who own their own towers), hold over 80% of all numbers. 💰
This means that on average, every fifth number belongs to a virtual operator. Why so few? We don’t understand it either, but that’s the freedom – if someone wants to have it worse, they can. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ The key is something completely different – the proportion. Acquiring customers through aggressive advertising campaigns isn’t difficult. You just need to spend a suitably large sum on marketing. What matters is how many numbers leave at the same time. 💨 Because each such number represents one disappointed person, who is no longer being fooled by introductory offers and is treated like one of millions of Excel cells.
🖤 And now we come in, all black with white accents, or perhaps red 🖤
At Mobile Vikings, we don’t aim to be the biggest operator or to acquire a record number of numbers and take first place in the UKE report. Instead, we want as many people as possible to stay with us of their own free will. 🧑🤝🧑 How are we doing? Let’s take a closer look at our drakkar.
The orange line on the chart below represents the number of numbers “given away” to other operators and constitutes about 0.2% of all numbers ported in a given quarter (i.e., participating in the MNP process). The blue line, on the other hand, represents acquired numbers. Do you see something cool here? We do. 😍 Our crew is growing stronger, the blue thread is climbing upwards (between the first quarter of 2019 and the last of 2020, there was a twofold increase in the network’s market share, now standing at 1%), while the orange line has stayed put like a very good dog. Vikings are statistically less and less likely to decide to abandon their helmets. Additionally, we are pleased that at the onset of the corona era (remember that dip in the first chart, symbolizing the mess the entire telco industry found itself in?), we managed not only to defend ourselves but even to gain speed! 💪
How is this possible?
We suspect one main factor influenced this result – we’re simply awesome. ᕙ(▀̿̿Ĺ̯̿̿▀̿ ̿) ᕗ But let’s break down this valid conclusion into its components.
Although we retreated to home office in the spring, it didn’t stop us from launching the new MATCH offer, which Vikings liked, especially when, at our crew’s request, it was equipped with free accumulation of unused GBs. Hooray for community decisions! 🎉 Furthermore, we focused on what proved especially important during the pandemic – helping. It’s not for nothing that we say we do #DlaSwoichWszystko (Everything For Our Own)! In line with our Vikings’ wishes, we engaged in charitable aid, about which you can read more in the articles from the Viking Support series. ⛑️ We are proud that so many of you actively supported us in these endeavors, by suggesting ideas, beneficiaries, motivating with kind words, and most importantly – by donating your accumulated gigabytes to specific causes. Thanks to the Rescue Boats, we were able to turn GBs into gold and do a lot of good for people and animals in and around Wrocław. And we did all this additionally, without forgetting to take care of you!
The year 2020 showed us that a good product is only part of what we have to offer. 📱 Staying true to our values and the Viking spirit, which we not only communicate but also act upon, gained exceptional value during the pandemic. That’s why on our ship, we will never count numbers – we prefer to count on the people who form the Mobile Vikings crew. And when the relationship between business and customer stops revolving solely around the concept of profit maximization, loyalty emerges, which takes a concrete shape and a measurable dimension in the UKE report.
What do you think of this kind of reporting? Are there any data points you'd like to read about? Do you have any of your own thoughts? 🤔 Let us know!
