Sky Mobile Opens Up Pre-Registration On 31 October

Sky will open pre-registration for its long-awaited mobile network on 31 October, bringing it one step closer to offering ‘quad play’ bundles of services to customers.

The company will not build any infrastructure and instead use O2’s network as part of a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) agreement. The addition of mobile to its UK portfolio will help it compete against BT, Virgin Media and TalkTalk, all of whom offer ‘quad play’ already.

Plans for an MVNO were first disclosed last year but Sky has never offered a firm launch date beyond ‘2016’.

Sky Mobile launch

In its quarterly results last week, Group CEO Jeremy Darroch said the launch was imminent and suggested ‘Sky Mobile’ would be the commercial name for the service. He also said initial network tests had been successful

And at its Investors Day today, Sky confirmed Haloween would be the day that customers could first express their interest.

In a presentation, Sky said key technical milestones such as core network construction, roaming agreements, SIM management and number range had all been completed and confirmed supply and distributor agreements for handsets (including Apple and Samsung) and customer support were all in place.

Details on the cost of bundles are still unclear however. TechWeekEurope understands more details will be made available after registration opens.

The benefits for Sky are obvious. Quad play could attract more customers, retain existing ones and increase revenue per user. And there’s no doubt Sky sees its customer base as a significant opportunity for growth. It told investors that Sky homes accounted for nearly half of all UK mobile contracts and two thirds would consider taking up a Sky Mobile subscription.