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Bolton-based electrical appliances’ retailer AO.com has today become the latest UK company to try their hand at launching their own 4G and 5G virtual mobile network operator (mvno) with AO Mobile, which reflects a new partnership with Vodafone. Not that the market needed another one, but you’ve got it now anyway.
AO Mobile will support both physical SIMs and eSIM functionality from launch, which makes it a bit more sophisticated than the myriad of eSIM-only providers that have been popping up from every direction in recent months. But at launch the service will only offer a single SIM-only plan called Ultimate 500GB.
The 30-day rolling plan is priced at £12 a month for AO members and £18 a month for non-members. As you might expect this will get you unlimited UK calls and texts, a 500GB monthly data allowance (this is pretty close to the soft Fair Usage cap that many mobile operators apply to “unlimited data” plans), 15GB of inclusive EU roaming allowance and “99% UK population coverage with access to fast and reliable 5G“.
Customers can also add up to 9 additional SIMs under the same account, making the service suitable for individuals and families alike.
AO’s Founder and CEO, John Roberts, said:
“We’ve been disrupting the status quo since 2000 to make things better, simpler, and cheaper for customers. We want to remove complexity and keep mobile simple so that it’s easy for customers to understand. Our pricing is transparent, our contracts are flexible, and our prices are fixed.
For AO, this feels like the right approach because a mobile phone is so central and critical to everyday life. AO Mobile simplifies everything with just one tariff. AO members get 500GB for only £12 including 15GB of EU Roaming every month. No gimmicks, no price rises in the first 12 months, no surprises and a rolling 30 day contract.
It is typical AO value. We don’t need to tie you in because you’ll never want to leave. It is simply amazing value, which is why AO is the most trusted electrical retailer.”
The catch, if you can call it such, is that to benefit from the lowest pricing mentioned above you need to be an AO member and membership typically costs £39.99 per year. Otherwise, at £18 a month, the price is still good for a 30-day plan, although giffgaff and iD Mobile, among others, can do similar without the need for an additional membership.