September 2009 has been an extremely busy period for www.SimOnlyContractDeals.co.uk.  With an entire month full of research, analysis, mystery shops and test buys; together with consumer queries, comments and feedback flooding in, we have finally drawn up a list of SIM Only winners in a variety of categories.  Near to 50 different SIM Only deals had been nominated for various categories from all major network operators.  Winners have been carefully selected by our by editorial team based on a number of factors which include popularity, customer feedback and most importantly best value for money.

Vodafone’s Talk 30 day £20 SIM Only deal has been selected as the best all round SIM Only winner for 2009, beating off strong competition from O2’s £19.58 per month SIM Only deal and T-Mobile’s £20 per month SIM Only deal.  Well done Vodafone!

T-Mobile Solo 15 – £15 per month SIM Only has been selected as the best low cost SIM Only deal.  The T-Mobile £15 per month SIM Only offered more minutes than any other network within the price bracket, which has helped it stand out from the crowd.

Vodafone Talk 30 day £25 SIM Only deal also scooped the best SIM Only deal for the heavy user. All SIM Only deals within the £25 price range were analysed and the Vodafone Talk 30 day £25 SIM Only were found to have offered the most number of talk time minutes with a whopping 900 minutes.

O2 Simplicity 20 was selected as the best SIM Only deal for the moderate to heavy mobile internet user as they offered a bolt-on package enabling you to choose between unlimited web or unlimited Wi-Fi as well as other add-ons.

Winners have been selected based on the actual SIM Only deal and not the provider, and therefore it could have been possible for just a single mobile network operator to scoop every single award.

2009 has seen a huge growth in the popularity of SIM Only deals and it is clear that UK consumers are now getting very good value for money without even having to sign up for lengthy mobile phone contracts.

What these awards also demonstrate as well as how fast the UK SIM Only market has grown, is how competitive the market has been in 2009, with not a single mobile network operator completely dominating.  Although Vodafone grabbed double awards including the best all-round SIM Only, most major mobile network operators shared the spoils with the other awards.

Worlds biggest mobile phone manufacturer Nokia has warned that it will not increase its share of the handset market this year because of fierce competition.  The company, which makes roughly four out of every 10 phones sold worldwide, has announced a 66% drop in second quarter profits to €380m (£326m), sending shares down almost 10%.

Nokia, who are based in Finland,  which is also cutting jobs as it looks to reduce costs, has suffered as cash strapped consumers hold on to their existing handsets and opt for cheap SIM-only deals, leading to a dramatic drop in sales of mid-range phones.

Since the arival of SIM only contracts, sales of handsets in throughout the UK general had started decreasing as it is evident from mobile phone manufacturers sale figures for the first quarter of 2009.

Back in 2008 O2 launched SIM Only contract deals “simplicity” which they say combines “contract phone prices with pay-as-you-go flexibility”. Those signing up to O2 Simplicity SIM Only contract deal typically pay £15 a month for 200 minutes of calls and 200 texts (400 if bought online) a month – but they are not tied in to a long-term contract. The SIM Only contract is aimed at mobile users who are happy to keep their old handset. Customers are not offered a new phone when they sign up – instead they are just sent a new Sim card. The extra cost that would have usually incurred due to the cost of the handset, is saved hence passing on great value deals through the SIM Only contracts.

Customers are not tied up in a long term contract as they can end the cancel or change price plan with just 30 days notice. They pay by direct debit, and they should save around £10 a month by not taking out a new phone contract. There are a range of packages on offer – for example, 800 minutes of calls and 1,000 texts costs £30 a month.

O2’s marketing director Sally Cowdry had stated “Until now, the only option for those wanting to avoid long-term contracts has been pay-as-you-go, but for those people who are perfectly happy with their existing handsets, O2 Sim only contract deals offer great value for money and, with the ease of direct debit payment, a lot less hassle,”

The credit crunch ha affected both businesses and consumers, and it was the perfect timing to launch the new service. O2’s SIM Only contract have proved to be good success as the popularity for SIM Only contracts are growing fast. Since O2’s SIM Only contract deals, T-Mobile, Vodafone, Orange and Virgin Mobile have followed up offering fantastic price plans. Sales of SIM Only contract deals is looking to surge for 2009 as it is best alternative to long term contract plans and a great compromise between both the mobile phone network providers and consumers.

Sales of SIM card only mobile phone price plans are set to surge in the coming year as customers postpone upgrading, Jim Hyde, the UK chief executive of T-Mobile, has warned.

Jim Hyde, the UK chief executive of T-Mobile has warned that SIM card only deals are rising considerably in popularity and sales of SIM only contract deals are set to surge in 2009..

The Chief Executive of T-Mobile (Jim Hyde) said “We have definitely witnessed an increase in SIM-only deals as the credit crunch has impacted customers…” He also went on to say… “People are staying with their devices for longer, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing for us.” He also explained that despite the difficult environment, instances of customers defaulting on their payments remained low at the German-owned group.

The Chief Executive said that sales of the Google phone, which is being rolled out to UK customers through his network, were encouraging but he declined to give detailed numbers. Previously, the world’s largest mobile phone manufacturer Nokia, issued its fourth profits warning in a year, saying that sales in 2009 were likely to decline. Vodafone have also posted a 35 per cent fall in half-year profits earlier, cutting its full-year sales outlook and promising to slash costs by £1bn. But shares in the group surged on the news by nearly 14 per cent on the week.

For 2009 the SIM only contract deals seem to be a great alternative for both consumers and mobile phone network providers T-Mobile, Orange, O2, Vodafone and Orange. Consumers who seem to be holding on to their current mobile phone for longer, and also consumers who are cutting back on their budget can sign up for the SIM only contract deals which can quite easily fit their needs. As for the mobile phone network providers, gone are the days where the latest mobile phone handsets were used to entice consumers to sign up for long term contracts. Many consumers, who are now feeling sceptical about signing up for another long term contract, can be offered the SIM only deals. 2009 sees the biggest compromise between consumers and mobile phone network providers.

Vodafone announce its second UK network deal in a week with the launch of Lebara Mobile, a new Sim-only phone service targeting the country’s burgeoning immigrant population.

The deal to let Lebara Mobile use its network comes after Vodafone last week announced it will support Carphone Warehouse’s new Talkmobile service.

While the government may be unclear as to how many immigrant workers have entered the country in the past 10 years, the 2001 census reported there were 4.6 million ethnic minority consumers in the UK. Vodafone reckons the market for supplying communications services to the growing number of immigrants could be worth as much as £500m a year. Launched six years ago, Lebara started selling international telephone calling cards, helping immigrants keep in touch with family with cheap call rates. Having built a large distribution network to support the cards operation, Lebara has been moving into the mobile phone business, supplying cheap mobile calls to its core market.

Lebara Mobile in the UK, will offer just a Sim card, meaning that customers have to supply their own phones. The pre-pay only service will offer cheap international calls, with customer support in several languages. Lebara, with annual revenues of more than €160m (£111m), has built relationships and network access across the world, enabling it to provide cheap calls to Africa, south-east Asia, the Indian subcontinent, South America and eastern Europe. Vodafone is already supporting the mobile service in Spain. It is also operating in Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland and Sweden.

The deal with Lebara Mobile is part of Vodafone’s drive to increase the revenues it makes from wholesale deals that allow other companies to use its network to run services. As well as Talkmobile, Vodafone has signed up with Asda to support its mobile service as well as providing the network for BT’s mobile services. Mobile phone companies are increasingly looking to raise revenues through wholesale deals. In the UK, T-Mobile started the trend when, as One2One, it allowed Virgin Mobile access to its network to run its service.

Orange and T-Mobile who are currently the third and fourth largest mobile phone operators in the UK market and struck a deal to team up in its efforts to beat tough competition from O2 and Vodafone.

Both operators combined will have an estimated of around 30 million customers covering a whopping 37% of the entire UK market.  The move will of course out leap their arch rivals Vodafone and O2 making them making them the biggest mobile phone operator.

The market share after the merger announcement by both mobile network operators is as follows:

T-Mobile and Orange = 37%
O2 = 28%
Vodafone = 23%
Virgin = 6.2%
3 = 5.8%

Total mobile phone subscriptions held are:

T-Mobile and Orange = 28.4 million
O2 = 21.5 million
Vodafone = 17.7 million
Virgin = 4.8 million
3 Mobile = 4.5 million

Date Source: Ofcom (The Communications Market 2008)

Merging of the two mobile network operators is expected to officially take place and be confirmed in November 2009 by outing pen to paper.

The integration although can cost up to £800 million according to both firms, makes sense as a long term strategy and business model.  Costs can be cut in many areas of both mobile firms such as reduction of stores and decommissioning of mobile phone masts.

Integrating the two businesses will cost up to £800 million, according to the firms, but there are substantial savings to be made in the long term thanks to the decommissioning of mobile phone masts and reduction in stores, among other changes.  Although a new brand identity can take as long as up until 2012, marketing and customer service expenditure are also expected to be reduced.

T-Mobile and Orange have claimed that if given the go ahead by both UK and European regulators, the deal will “bring substantial benefits to UK customers”, showing potential for better network quality, expanded network coverage,  and improved customer services.  We expect the deal itself to be given the all-clear as the combined UK market share still falls below 40% and many European countries have an average of four major mobile phone operators and not five.

Although the joint venture deal will bring logical benefits to both T-Mobile and Orange, it is too early to state whether T-Mobile or Orange customers will benefit from this.  It is however safe to assume that due to their market dominance, they will face less competition in order to bring down prices.  The immediate benefit we can see is that mobile contracts including SIM card only deals and Pay As You Go deals is  that offers with inclusive minutes to the same mobile network for T-Mobile will also cover calls to Orange and vice versa for Orange customers due to both networks being one.

It will be interesting to see how the larger two competitors O2 and Vodafone react to this announcement as well as the smaller two Virgin and 3 Mobile.

If you have travelled to the UK and do plan to stay over a month, a long term contract will not be ideal.  Many long term contracts can run for up to 2 years hence making your stay in the UK not sufficient enough for it.  All long term mobile contracts also require a credit check and therefore those who have travelled in from abroad are more than likely to fail the credit check.

If you plan to stay in the UK for a few months or maybe even a year, the best alternative is the 30 day SIM-Only deals.  As the name suggests, you are only provided with a SIM card which you can insert into your existing handset and the contract runs for a maximum of 30 days.  For those who plan to stay in the UK for longer than 30 days, SIM-Only contracts roll on and extend for a further 30 days and keep going until you have provided your notice to cancel.

SIM-Only contract deals are absolutely suitable for anybody travelling into the UK for 30 days or more.  You are also required to have your own mobile handset as you are not provided with one.  If you require a handset, we recommend you hire a world phone and simply return it upon leaving the UK.  A world phone is a mobile phone handset that works on four different frequencies, otherwise known as quad-band.  The benefit of a world phone is that the handset is designed to work in all major cities of the world with any international mobile network operator, which of course includes T-Mobile, Orange, O2, Vodafone and Virgin Mobile.

Please note we only recommend world phones for use in major cities and not for parts of the world where there are absolutely no network coverage.  For those instances it is advisable to look into satellite phone rental.  A satellite phone does not need to connect to a mobile network operator’s base as it communicates directly with the orbiting satellites.

For help with handets, we advice that you to speak to mobile phone rental specialists such as www.cellhire.com.

There has been a confirmation on the part of various sources who are close to the company, saying that the company has been in the process of buying unlocked iPhone 3G devices, and giving them to select customers to induce them to increase or extend their T-mobile deals.

However, T-Mobile has refused to make an official comment on the matter.  The iPhone offer seems to be applicable to only those customers who spend a minimum of 70 pounds per month, and not everyone would get an iPhone from T-Mobile.

The iPhone 3G devices (which are unlocked) are quite easily available in the United Kingdom, and retailers like Play.com sell them for approximately £589.99 for the 16GB model. Now it seems that T-Mobile has made a private purchase of an unknown number of such handsets, from a US based supplier that is also not known, with the aim of offering these to customers totally free, or perhaps at a less charge.

The iPhone 3Gs, which is the latest iPhone model, hit the stands for sale in the month of June. But what should be noted is that though unlocked models of this particular device are quite easily available online, O2 is the only network operator which is currently offering this to the customers.

Many people are speculating that this exclusive agreement between Apple and O2 could end soon, due to some reports which say that the deal is valid only until October , and thus other network operators would be able to offer the iPhones to customers well before the Christmas season comes around.

But O2 is still insistent that this is an exclusive agreement with Apple, for supplying the iPhone to various customers spread over the UK market, but Apple has refused to comment on this.

It is most probable that O2 will still have the sole rights to sell the newest iPhone 3GS handsets, and other operators will only be able to sell the iPhone 3G.