The mobile takes over from the fixed line with Mobistar's Wirefree Office

Brussels, 14th of April 2006. Mobility is yours for the cost of a fixed line thanks to Mobistar's Wirefree Office. Now, companies can also seize the trend to replace the fixed line with a mobile when changing or upgrading their telephone exchange.

Studies carried out by the Financial Times and Nokia reveal that companies can cut their costs by at least 20% by replacing a fixed line with a mobile phone. Datanews for its part claims that, in 2006, almost 40% of companies will overhaul their telecommunications infrastructure or will have to upgrade it. This is therefore the ideal moment to embrace this change.

Wirefree Office is a new service earmarked for companies employing at least 50 persons, whose employees are regularly out of the office and that are confronted with an upgrade or overhaul of their telephone exchange. This solution does not take over completely from the telephone exchange, but replaces most of the fixed phones with mobile phones. Naturally, all employees cannot only be equipped with mobile phones. Take the receptionists, the agents of a call centre or employees who do not leave their offices for example. Employees who have a fixed line and a mobile phone or only a fixed line or a pager, can easily do with a mobile phone and still be contacted at all times.

Wirefree Office offers a plethora of advantages not only for the user but also for the ICT Manager and the company.

 

 

• For the ICT Manager, the costs of investing in an overhaul or in a new telephone exchange and the telephony costs will be lower adopting Wirefree Office. The total cost of ownership of a fixed telephone line is on average 20 € per month and per user (Metro Research January 2005). With Wirefree Office, the total cost of ownership of a mobile phone, per month and per user, can be cut to between 14 and 18 euros. The greater the number of employees, the lower the cost. Mobile-to-mobile calls and mobile-to-fixed calls within the company are free. The calls made via a mobile phone to a correspondent outside the radio zone are charged at the fixed line rate and calls made entirely outside the zone at a mobile rate.

 

• For the employees and the companies, Wirefree Office offers : Greater accessibility and mobility, which allows greater efficiency and freedom of movement for the on-site and off-site employees. One single device, one single call number and one single voice mail per employee, which avoids the headache of missed calls. Greater freedom and flexibility for the employees who are often out of the office or who work at home.

 

• In short, the company benefits from the advantages of mobile telephony for the cost of fixed telephony, reduced maintenance costs, and employees who not only enjoy greater freedom and flexibility but who are also more efficient.

 

The Sheraton Hotels group (Starwood Hotels & Resorts) has concluded a business partnership with Mobistar. The ICT Manager explains his choice as follows : « The Mobistar Wirefree Office network is a radio zone installed in our hotels that makes it possible to phone free of charge within these zones and at the mobile phones rate outside these zones. We have reprogrammed our telephone exchange to transfer the calls to our employees' mobile phones, who can be reached on a 4 digit extension. As far as costs are concerned, we are reducing our subscription costs and are eligible for better rates".