NEW YORK-Here’s a sampling of the recent customer requests handled by service reps for Voce, the luxury mobile virtual network operator that apparently can do just about anything its subscribers ask of it.
Ten customers wanted reservations at Wolfgang Puck’s new steakhouse in Los Angeles, called Cut. One user wanted to know if dogs are allowed at the Bellagio casino in Las Vegas. Another requested tickets for a concert, and yet another wanted to rent a projector for a business presentation. A customer needed a recommendation on a gift for a grandchild. A man called in to request that soup be sent to his sick girlfriend. There were questions about the weather in Bangkok, the average rainfall in the city of Burbank, Calif., and the more prosaic query of how to pair a Bluetooth headset with a Voce phone.
“Lastly, we were able to reunite two lost friends who hadn’t seen each other in 15 years,” Roy Kosuge, Voce’s senior vice president, told an audience at the Informa MVNO Sustainable Business Models conference. “Our requests range far and wide, as you can see.”
Voce was designed to offer wealthy customers the same upscale experience in wireless that they get in other areas of their lives, such as special treatment while shopping or traveling. “Our goal is to create the premium class of service in the mobile-phone category,” Kosuge said.
It’ll cost you, though. Voce’s service requires an initial fee of $500, plus $200 per month, according to Kosuge. For that, customers receive unlimited domestic calling and text messaging, plus a phone (Voce offers three Razrs and one handset from Nokia Corp.), basic accessories and a Bluetooth headset. Users get access to a 24/7 service center based in Glendale, Calif., a free annual phone upgrade and replacements if devices are lost or damaged, as well as access to a concierge service and travel assistance. Other perks include a luggage delivery service, access to a private jet club and the option to have a Voce assistant come to customers’ homes or offices to show them how to use the phone or to troubleshoot.
But those prices are down from Voce’s initial expectations that it could charge $1,000 for the initial fee and $400 per month for service. Kosuge said that the MVNO had done studies which gave them “great results” on how much people were willing to pay, but the real world reflected a different story. The $200 per-month price puts Voce in line with 6,000 minute per-month plans from the national carriers. Kosuge said Voce took advantage of doing real market tests and having a soft launch. “We were able to work out a lot of our service kinks before spending a lot of money or disappointing customers,” Kosuge said.
The MVNO runs on Cingular Wireless L.L.C.’s network and as a Cingular MVNO, is not able to offer data services. However, Kosuge said that a suite of applications are in development and that Voce likely will be expanding its network offering shortly; the company has said previously that it would like to offer both CDMA and GSM phones.
According to the company’s Web site, service should become available later this year in New York and San Francisco; the MVNO strives for a nationwide rollout in 2007. Voce plans to increase its media spend in Los Angeles this fall and New York in the spring, Kosuge said.
Building an MVNO takes time, money and patience, he said. “We don’t think we can crack this nut in six months,” Kosuge said. He tacked on a warning for prospective MVNOs: “Everything takes a lot longer than you think.”
