Orange signs virtual network deal, with Lycamobile, third past 12 months, taking the total to six. According to Orange’s VP new business and wholesale strategy, Mark Overton, the operator has some more deals in the pipeline with Sainsbury’s believed to be its biggest target. He also added that the six MVNOs are ‘only the beginning’. Lycamobile, the ethnic MVNO has been long established in the UK as an international calling card company. Its stock is sold by 50,000 independent retailers in the UK alone.
The MVNO will work in competition with Lebara Mobile which has 90,000 UK retail outlets, and Carphone’s Talkmobile business, sold through Carphone’s retail channels, as well as a host of other sub-agents.
The entrant has invested £10m into marketing its new Sim-only product that will target the UK migrant population. Subaskaran Allirajah, chairman of Lycamobile, said: ‘We aim to acquire one million subscribers within 12 months.’
Overton said that ‘as a brand it resonates’, and he also showed that the strong ‘distribution it has and the relationships with shopkeepers’ was the reason Orange had decided to partner Lycamobile.
Overton was confident that Lycamobile would be able to compete against the other ethnic MVNOs already in the UK market. He said: ‘We’ve not reached saturation yet.’
Lycamobile, will increase the number of stores to 85000 from October, with the addition of e-Pay, Payzone and the Post Office.
Wireless Federation » archive for 'Lycamobile'
Orange signs the sixth MVNO deal, many more to come (UK)
- September 26th, 2008
- 5:48 am
Dutch MVNOs grow customer base to 3.05 million
- July 6th, 2007
- 12:04 pm
The number of customers at Dutch MVNOs rose to 3.05 million at the end of March, from 2.52 million a year earlier. Compared with September 2006, the number of customers using MVNOs increased by 13.1 percent. In total, MVNOs and resellers account for 16.8 percent of the SIMs in the Dutch market. In March 2007, over 50 virtual operators were active on the Dutch market, with new arrivals in the last six months including Rabo Mobiel, Ay Yildiz, Lycamobile, IDT Mobile, Erdee Mobile, Multikabel and Hurriyet. The market also witnessed a number of exits in 2006. Over the next 12 months, the number of VOs to stabilise, with the number of newcomers offset by consolidation and VOs leaving the market. Furthermore, new MVNEs and a more aggressive attitude from Vodafone to win its fair share in the Dutch market are expected to give existing and new MVNOs more options to choose their network partners. This will also put pressure on the wholesale price a mobile network operator can ask MVNE/MVNOs, said Wilma Bekx, research manager .
Market leaders debitel and Tele2 showed a decline in market share versus both six months and a year ago. Meanwhile, a number of newcomers continue to do well in the market, including Lebara Mobile, Ortel Mobile and Lycamobile. With slightly less than 1 million customers, debitel is by far the largest player in the Dutch VO market. Tele2 Mobiel is the second largest, with an estimated 589,000 customers at the end of March, up from 535,000 customers from a year ago. Lebara is the third largest VO, followed by Ortel Mobile. AH Mobiel moved down in the rankings to become the fifth-largest VO, with 195,000 customers at the end of March 2007, up from 160,000 customers a year earlier.
A large group of small VOs accounted for 3.6 percent of the market at the end of March 2007. This group includes such operators as ACN, Amatus, Ay Yildiz, Baron, Call4Care, Carey Mobiel, Chippie, Scarlet, Intercity Mobile Communications, Dekatel Telecom, Versatel, Multikabel, LowCall, Telefoon Totaal,Tommy telecom,TrendCall, Yes Telecom and Yiggers.
