11/07/1997|Verizon News Archives
Omnitel Pronto Italia Presents
Omnitel continues to innovate in the fast growing Italian cellular market; developing plans that meet customer needs
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Milan, Italy - Omnitel Pronto Italia, the world's fastest growing cellular operator and Italy's first private GSM (Global Service for Mobile) digital operator, announced today an innovative new tariff called "CITY." The new plan has been developed to meet the needs of urbanites interested in using a mobile phone in the city where they live.
With this new plan Omnitel, Bell Atlantic's Italian wireless investment, brings a new concept to Italian cellular: zoned pricing. CITY enables subscribers to make local calls within the boundaries of their city of residence, to both landline numbers and other Omnitel GSM numbers, at only Lit. 295 (about US$0.18) per minute, regardless of the time of day or night. All calls made outside the district are charged at Lit. 990 (about US$0.56) per minute.
Omnitel CITY has no fixed costs: there is no activation charge and no monthly subscription fee.
The new plan will be available on November 15 in 26 Italian cities. As competition continues to heat up in the Italian wireless market, Omnitel plans to extend the service to reach a total of 100 cities by February of 1998.
Innovation and the ability to anticipate market trends have been distinguishing factors for Omnitel since its start less than two years ago. That ability to anticipate tomorrow's needs today is at the heart of the company's new advertising campaign slogan, "Today we do things others will do tomorrow." The campaign will air for the first time on Italian prime time Saturday, November 8, and will continue throughout 1998 on television, radio, print, and billboards.
The new advertising campaign has been developed by an international team which includes Spanish creative director Miguel Angel Torralba Marco, U.S.-born Academy Award director Bill Fertik, and the Italian band Dirotta su Cuba. The internationally acclaimed song "The Greatest Love of All" is the sound track of the television advertisement and has been rearranged with a more Latin tempo by the Italian band.
On October 1, 1997, Omnitel Pronto Italia had 1,750,000 subscribers. On September 15, the company's GSM network covered 66 percent of the Italian market, equivalent to 93 percent of the country's population.