Advanced Television

EE to bundle Apple Music

August 26, 2016

BT’s mobile arm EE is to bundle Apple Music with mobile contracts in a move designed to increase subscriber loyalty and help the iPhone maker’s music streaming app challenge Spotify.

EE subscribers “will be offered free for six months with a new contract to EE pay monthly customers, double the three-month free trial otherwise provided by Apple. Afterwards users will pay the normal subscription charge, currently £9.99, (€11.7) via their mobile bill. Vodafone currently offers six months of free access to Spotify or Sky Sports with new contracts.

EE has created a video promoting the deal with Kevin Bacon and Singer Britney Spears who will be performing at the Apple Music festival next month in London.

EE says it is the largest mobile carrier in Britain with 27 million consumers on its network, giving Apple Music a wide pool of potential customers. It could accelerate its push into streaming after it built a base of 15 million paying users, about half the number of Spotify.

Apple has a similar promotion with Telstra in Australia, and is said to be making a deal with Deutsche Telekom in Germany.

The giveaway has reportedly enraged rival Virgin Media, which pays more than £120m per year for wholesale access to BT Sport.

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