The Sharp End: O2 pay and Samsung Pixon

O2 bids dealers farewell

It’s incredibly brave of O2 to shun the dealer channel in the way it appears to be doing.

I tend to steer clear of O2 these days anyway, but as a dealer and an interested industry watcher, I can’t quite believe it is prepared to turn customers away like this.

It must be doing exceptionally well, or else have been handed down strict targets that make it think it best to write off the dealer channel completely.

It has recently reiterated its policy on third party upgrades, I understand, making clear dealers and distributors that process customers originally signed direct stand to make no money at all from their efforts.

It is bizarre to me – is disgusting too strong a word? – dealers and distributors can process direct customers for upgrades in good faith (because O2’s systems still allow it) only to be informed afterwards they won’t be paid commission for the connection.

Surely, some process should be in place to prevent the dealer channel from risking subsidies on handsets to secure O2 connections.

And this move by O2 comes ahead of its recent move to pull up-front commission from the dealer channel altogether, in favour of an ongoing revenue remuneration scheme.

The network is going to lose a huge amount of business from these moves, surely.

Full article only in Mobile News issue 423 (October 6, 2008).

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