TELECOMS & MOBILE
O2 Ireland launches Group Worker
07-04-2003
by
Mobile operator O2 Ireland on Monday took the wraps off its latest product, spelling the end of a popular perk for some Irish workers.
O2 first introduced plans to launch Group Worker last year. The service gives companies the ability to force workers to pay for their personal mobile calls on company phones. After months of testing the new service with the likes of Campbell Bewley, Fyffes and Coillte, the mobile operator has come back with figures on how much corporate subscribers can expect to save using the service -- between 20 percent and 50 percent per year, O2 said.
According to O2, Group Worker operates through the use of a so-called "personal account" for each employee, which can be topped up as if it were a pre-paid account. To make personal calls, employees place the digit 8 (or another number specified by O2) in front of the number they are dialling; if they omit the number, calls are charged to the business account. Personal calls are charged at a much lower rate than standard pre-paid calls: EUR0.15 per minute for national off-peak and O2-to-O2 call, or EUR0.30 per minute for all other calls.
O2 argues that for companies that are already asking employees to pay for their own personal calls, the system will alleviate a big administrative burden. "Our corporate customers have noticed the benefits, such as the cost savings through use of personal accounts for employees, and time savings on sifting through bills to recover personal call spend," commented Gerry McQuaid, commercial director, O2 Ireland. Another benefit is a Web-based management system for the service on www.O2.ie, he added.
Another aspect of Group Worker that O2 Ireland will push in the coming weeks is a short-dial service that lets users call fixed-line office extensions or a colleague's mobile number by dialling the extension, prefixed with a "9" or another single digit. All extension numbers used to call back to the office are guaranteed to be no more than EUR0.10 per minute including VAT, the company said.
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