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"Subsidies do not support loyalty to network operators" - T-Mobile. Well, duh!

It's the standard "respectable movie star blasts naked starlet" story: T-Mobile ceo Rene Obermann has called for an end to phone subsidies. Like an admired actor who has made her name for thespian genius, he deplores the tasteless "come and get me" topless pictures that up-coming young rivals are posing for to get headlines.

According to the 3GSM daily news feed, Obermann hasn't actually forgotten his scandalous starlet past. He acknowledges that subsidies "historically have driven growth in the mobile industry" but argues that "subsidy no longer works in an era when penetration is nearing or exceeds the entire population in a growing number of markets."

To put it another way, now we have our dominant position, someone should stop these young babes from grabbing the limelight with new, cheap phones with softly rounded curves. He called for "a new approach for a new market", in countries such as the UK, Portugal, Sweden and Hong Kong where penetration has exceeded 100 per cent.

"Subsidies do not support loyalty," said Obermann. Lack of loyalty leads to high churn rates while reductions in subsidies enable operators to cut call costs, Obermann pointed out.

Nobody seems to have pointed out that it's only established networks that want loyalty. The newcomers will want churn; and of course, those who think they deserve a bigger piece of the pie, and think they can get it, will want churn.

Forget it, Obermann; Vodafone Live! isn't going to stop flashing its charms in front of your happy network users just because you're not happy with the need to cut costs...