The mobile broadband business
Last October T-Mobile launched its IT channel partner programme, which was designed to help the IT (as opposed to telco) channel to participate in what it estimates is a £13.9 billion market. Three months later it has signed its first ‘Premier Partner’ – smart phone and UMPC specialist reseller eXpansys and expects to sign 3-4 more in the next month.
So HEXUS.channel spoke to head of OEM & IT channel partners at T-Mobile UK, Adrian Williams to find out why T-Mobile is so keen on IT resellers all of a sudden. “T-Mobile has been involved in notebook industry at OEM and vendor level since the start of 2006,” said Williams, “but what really got the momentum going was when vendors started producing notebooks with embedded 3G.”
In other words, when the IT and telco markets started truly converging. We’ve obviously had smart phones for a while now, but these are still sold primarily through the telco channel. The notebook, however, is very much the property of the IT channel – hence the strategic shift by T-Mobile.
The question for IT resellers now is how to make sure they capitalise on this trend. “We think that mobile broadband provides two main opportunities for IT resellers,” said Williams. “Firstly there is the excellent margin opportunity in reselling the broadband service itself, which opens the door to a whole world of other related services that the reseller is then in an ideal position to offer.”
The T-Mobile core proposition appears to consist of a choice between contract and prepay options. The reseller can make in excess of £100 margin for reselling a contract or make a decent margin on selling the £100 modem (pictured below) required to utilise the prepay option.
Williams also thinks, with global economic conditions looking a tad dodgy in 2008, that mobile broadband is a great diversification opportunity for IT resellers. “The convergence of markets, as opposed to technologies, will create huge opportunities for the IT channel, “ he said, but warned “IT resellers need to make sure they keep an eye on telco resellers, who are sure to be thinking along the same lines.”
There’s no doubting that seamless mobile connectivity is starting to become a core requirement for businesses and consumers alike. With flat data tariffs becoming the norm and the iPhone prompting a deluge of touchscreen connected mobile devices, even the biggest names in IT are currently talking mobile internet. If you’re not already, perhaps it’s time for you to be talking to your customers about it too.
Full details of the T-Mobile IT channel partner programme can be found here.
