Olive Communications

Olive signed 1500 blackberry del a with Vodafone

B2B dealer Olive Communications transfers £40,000 per month in billed line rental from O2 to Vodafone B2B dealer Olive Communications has the biggest BlackBerry contract ever signed by an independent dealer, it claims.

Acton-based Olive Communications said it has signed a deal with Coventry job seekers and training company JHP Training to port around 1,750 connections from O2 direct to Vodafone via Yes Telecom. The deal followed three months’ negotiation.

Olive Communications, which earlier this year signed a longterm strategic agreement with Yes Telecom, said JHP has signed an initial two-year contract for 1,250 BlackBerry handsets, connected for voice and data, and a further 500 mobile broadband dongles on the Vodafone network. The deal is understood to be worth more than £40,000 per month in billed line rental over a two-year period (£960,000). It is understood to be the biggest BlackBerry order Yes Telecom has ever put through.

Olive Communications said it won the business from O2 based on the level of service it “guaranteed”, including 24/7 customer service, a dedicated account manager as well as fully managed BlackBerry support. Managing director Mark Geraghty also said the number of connections is “likely” to increase as JHP continues to expand. JHP currently has more than 110 business centres based around the UK.

The deal has seen Olive Communications’ customer base increase to more than 20,000, with more than 70 per cent of those now on Vodafone. It also recently became one of a handful of dealers to move on to Yes Telecom’s ongoing revenue  share scheme, it said.

Olive Communications said it aims to double its monthly connections to Vodafone to around 600 by the end of the year. Geraghty said: “The deal is coming from O2 to Vodafone via Yes Telecom, and we understand it is its biggest distribution deal ever on BlackBerry by an independent dealer. “So we are very happy. It’s a fantastic deal for us.We have recently signed into a longterm deal with Yes Telecom and we couldn’t be any closer.

It’s a great win for both of us.” hide

Olive Cares

Acton based mobile phone dealer Olive communications have launched a new mobile phone recycling initiative with the Care International, one of the worlds top three aid agencies. By encouraging customers to give back their old mobile at time of upgrade Olive are hoping to raise £10,000 this year that will go towards Care International’s ongoing projects in the third world

Olive Communications director Rob Saffman said “More and more of our customers are asking about recycling old mobile handsets. Care international have been a long standing customer of ours and it made perfect sense to partner with them for this recycling initiative which will allow us to contribute to the fantastic work that they do. We were amazed that recycling can generate up to £70 for old handsets and hope to comfortably exceed the £10,000 target by the end of the year.”

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Report on data roaming

The BBC Watchdog programme from Monday 31st March 08 included concerns from customers who incurred high charges for using mobile data services while outside the UK.

Transparent pricing is a key part of Olive’s commitment to provide customers with good value mobile broadband and internet, both in the UK and abroad. All Olive customers are advised by text message the moment they connect to a network of the charges for voice, text and data services. For laptop users, the same message is shown on the screen used to connect to our mobile broadband service.

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Olive Comms has a Record Month

Acton based mobile phone provider Olive Communications has made 4,000 new connections and upgrades in February, its best month since the firm’s establishment in August 2002. The company, which provides handsets to small and medium sized businesses, is a T-Mobile busienss partner and is Blackberry accredited. It is also a Yes Telecom Gold Partner and a member of the Orange Corporate Club. It reported a turnover of £9million last year – a 600% growth over the previous two years. Olive managing director Mark Geraghty said “Our recent growth has been based on a huge increase in the number of Blackberry and data connections we are currently doing. We have developed close relationships with a number of IT resellers and consultants and are finding this to be a hugely successful route to market”.

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T-Mobile offers BlackBerry scheme

T-Mobile has launched a partner programme dedicated to BlackBerry resellers, which the firm has claimed will give VARs preferential treatment on sales of the email device. The BlackBerry from T-Mobile: Partner Programme is an extension of the firm’s Business Partner Programme, launched in June.

John Fannon, national sales manager at T-Mobile, said: “There are 17 benefits available for partners accepted onto the programme. These include: preferential pricing on BlackBerry products, which will mean partners receive cheaper units; marketing support from T-Mobile; and increased commission.” However, Fannon said the mobile provider will be strict on entry to the scheme. To qualify for the benefits partners must sell 150 BlackBerry connections per quarter, with 80 per cent of those on two-year contracts. T-Mobile has 17 partners in the UK and is hoping to include more than half in the BlackBerryprogramme. Partners that have already joined include WN1 Communications, Olive Communications and BusinessMobiles.com.

Mark Geraghty, managing director of Olive Communications, said: “This is a very positive thing for our firm. We hope to put a better proposition to our customers and being part of the programme will help us do that.”

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