Iliad's T-Mobile Bid Risks US Wireless Growth Story says Strategy Analytics

-- A "Free" T-Mobile Represents Worst Case Scenario for Sprint

BOSTON, Aug. 1, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Iliad's surprise bid for T-Mobile would leave Sprint the least able to compete if wireless prices tumble, according to the Strategy Analytics Wireless Operator Strategies (WOS) service report, "Iliad Bids to Escalate US Market Disruption with T-Mobile Offer". While Strategy Analytics believes the bid will ultimately fail, it represents a wake-up call for all the carriers in the increasingly saturated market.

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Click here for the report: http://bit.ly/1kqfg6V

Key findings from the report:

• Iliad's Free has had a dramatic impact on the French market, driving a 29% decline in service revenue and 19% decline in EBITDA since its launch;
• Iliad's founder, Xavier Niel, is also an investor in Israel's Golan Telecom, who's aggressive mobile launch two years' ago has had an equally dramatic impact on the market;
• Despite good logic to a bid by an operator keen to play outside the contracting European market, Iliad is unlikely to have an appetite for a bidding war with Softbank.

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Quotes:

Susan Welsh de Grimaldo, Director, Wireless Operator Strategies said: "While T-Mobile's UnCarrier strategy has elevated its market position, its Q2 performance trailed AT&T's and its transformation has been more about offering customer choice and flexibility rather than lower prices. Iliad's Free strategy is all about the price. Pushing multi-play bundles would be an obvious response for Verizon and AT&T to the Free approach, a strategy which has enjoyed some success in France, but that is currently not an option for Sprint."

Phil Kendall, Executive Director, Wireless Operator Strategies, commented: "Perhaps more fundamentally, a successful Iliad bid would force the operators to move away from battles based on network coverage, speed, and pricing, and focus on effective marketing strategies built on segmentation. But irrespective of T-Mobile's ownership, this is a wake-up call for operators to get ahead of the game: differentiated products targeted at specific market needs by segment are the key to success when pricing, network quality and product features are all ultimately replicable."

About Strategy Analytics
Strategy Analytics, Inc. provides the competitive edge with advisory services, consulting and actionable market intelligence for emerging technology, mobile and wireless, digital consumer and automotive electronics companies. With offices in North America, Europe and Asia, Strategy Analytics delivers insights for enterprise success. www.StrategyAnalytics.com 

US Contact: Susan Welsh de Grimaldo, +1 617 614 0724, swelshdegrimaldo@strategyanalytics.com

European Contact: Phil Kendall, +44 1908 423620, pkendall@strategyanalytics.com