The CEO of Rogers Communications says that his strategy in launching a partnership with streaming music service Spotify was all about encouraging wireless customers to use more mobile data.
On Monday, Guy Laurence said that he didn’t even consider offering unlimited data usage for Spotify Premium (normally costs $10/month), which Rogers recently added as a bonus for customers of select high-end smartphone plans. The whole point, Laurence said, was to encourage subscribers to get comfortable with using more mobile data.
“I’m investing $49 million per week in building out my networks, both fixed and mobile, with a single point of view that people like you will continue to want to consume more data,” Guy Laurence, chief executive at Rogers, told reporters Monday. “In a lot of plans these days, voice is virtually free, text is virtually free. You got to pay the bills somehow and so we’re paying it through the monetization of data.”
Rogers’ strategy with its streaming music offer is to provide interesting content that prompts its subscribers to spend more money using its networks.
Laurence said that it will take time before promotions such as the Spotify deal begin to show up in a meaningful way in the company’s financial results.
Since joining Rogers almost two years ago, Laurence has put a focus on leveraging content to the benefit of the company’s cable, wireless and Internet operating, emphasized NHL programming and their video-streaming service Shomi.
[via Financial Post]
