Band Three Radio Ltd, a private access mobile radio operator, is to become the first national mobile communications company to sell its air time directly to customers. At the moment all national radio communication network operators offer air time via third party distributors. Basingstoke-based Band Three is to create its direct sales division from the service providers of its four shareholders, Philips Telecom, Racal Telecom, Securicor Communications and Digital Mobile Communications. Between them these four account for 70% of Band Three’s subscribers. Managing director of Band Three Andrew Robb says these independent distributors will continue to sell airtime for Band Three, but that the alternative route will offer a greater choice for customers. Robb expects companies with large fleets of vehicles covering regional and inter-regional areas to deal directly with Band Three. However he is at pains to point out that the move is not a reflection on the ability of the independents, declaring that independent service providers have served us extremely well… key players in the service provider sector see this positively… a dual approach will grow the market in totality. Even so, private access radio has only 34,000 subscribers, compared with the one million or more on the Cellnet and Vodafone networks. Band Three currently has 14,000 subscribers and Robb expects this to grow to 30,000 in a couple of years, through both channels of distribution, adding that growth would be slower without the direct sales. He admits that compared with Cellnet and Vodafone, the numbers for users on the private access frequencies are less than they might be. Because service providers have been giving away cellular phones free, our growth has been attenuated vigorously. But Band Three has picked up one or two customers recently from the cellular churn and direct sales and marketing should help to make the distinction with cellular in much of the market.
