B Digital boosts product coverage

LOCAL mobile phone supplier B Digital is embarking on an aggressive product expansion, including new Internet and home phone services, that is aimed at making it a full service telco. 

Negotiations are currently taking place with phone carriers for on-selling arrangements and an agreement is expected to be signed later this month.

B Digital (also known as B Mobile) sells mobile phones using the Optus network but signalled its intention to branch into other services during its reverse-takeover of New South Wales-based Digiplus last year.

That acquisition provided the company with an extra 150,000 customers on the eastern seaboard who were subscribing to mobile, domestic and international phone services from Digiplus.

It also diluted the Seven Network chairman Kerry Stokes’ stake in the company from 94 per cent to 42 per cent, with Digiplus acquiring 64 per cent in B Digital through a cash and scrip deal. 

According to B Digital national marketing manager Jeremy Cookson, the new services would be cost competitive and offer different bundling incentives.

“It will be the same value proposition that we have with mobile phones and there will be the option to bundle the services and offer our customers the benefits of doing so,” he said.

Mr Cookson said the company would initially sell the new B Internet and B Home Phone services to its existing 300,000-strong customer base.

“The short-term gain is if you can sell additional services to existing customers and maintain costs to manage them there are revenue gains for us,” he said.

“We are in discussions with various networks as to which one we use. We will have an agreement signed next month.”

Digiplus uses Optus as its carrier for international and long distance phone calls. This means B Digital will have to adopt a new system nationally and train its Perth-based staff.

Digiplus will be operated as a separate brand.

Mr Cookson said the company would be able to offer more innovative services and product offerings to existing suppliers of all three communications.

“They don’t want to talk to each other about how to help each other. Because of our size we will be able to be more innovative,” he said.

The company will begin a direct mail campaign advising customers of the new service in the coming months.

Mr Cookson said Internet services would initially be dial-up connections but broadband was on the agenda.