Everything Everywhere launches MVNO ‘Now Mobile’

On 05.28.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Orange and T-Mobile’s new joint venture, Everything Everywhere has launched an assault on the wholesale market with the unveiling of an ethnic MVNO called Now Mobile. NowTel, a calling card company and Orange have signed a deal aimed at rival incumbents Lebara Mobile, which runs on Vodafones network, and Lycamobile, which also runs on Orange. The direct deal indicates the next level of the soon-to-merge company’s wholesale strategy.

According to Everything Everywhere VP of wholesale Marc Overton, the deal with Now Mobile has been done with Orange UK, but will have all the benefits of Everything Everywhere as the company offer a bigger and better network and unrivalled experience in managing successful MVNOs and will play a key role in the success of its current and prospective partners, and is really going to shake up the wholesale market.

All MVNOs that will be launched on Orange network will be able to roam across both T-Mobile and Orange – or Everything Everywhere soon and along with an access to the UK’s largest network. Now Mobile is due to launch this summer and it will be offering PAYG propositions aimed at the ethnic market, and targeting its current customer base already using its calling cards.

Now Mobile MD Andrew Hallam opined that Orange supported Now Mobile has developed a strong brand and product set. The brand has positioned itself to attract a diverse sector of ethnic international calling customers. It is believed that there is a genuine demand for clear communications, quality, and value for money and excellent customer service within the ethnic MVNO market.

Overton also feels that there is a lot of growth in the ethnic market and there is definitely room for MVNOs other than Lycamobile and Lebara while the sources have claimed that NowTel ‘has a significant share of the market.

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Is UK heading towards merger era?

On 03.09.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: European Union has given its blessing to the most talked about deal of the season and the celebration will soon begin with the consummation of the proposed merger of Orange UK and T-Mobile UK. The telecom sector of UK is vital and highly competitive and the main players have always and loudly protested their support of the benefits of competition.

But with the finalization of the proposed merger, the big five have come down to big four. The current market leader in UK, O2 will be pushed a place down the hierarchy. Vodafone will go further down the order and will be casting around for some way to bolster its fortunes. All these mobile operators will try to cope up with the new and a powerful competition in the form of Orange UK and T-Mobile UK merger and by “competition” they all will mean merging themselves.

Though O2 will not be allowed to merge with Vodafone as the regulators in the UK and in Europe would not allow it too but the two can share their networks on a full fledged way.

The merger is paving the way towards a new trend of merger and collaboration of the entities that have control of two huge networks running the sector by themselves. The new trend will also provide access and services to a variety of MVNOs.

Until and unless a line is drawn by the regulator between the big two, the end user will be disadvantaged by the consolidation.

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France fourth 3G license awarded to Free Mobile

On 12.19.09, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Free Mobile, a subsidiary of broadband group Iliad, became the fourth mobile network to get 3G mobile network licence at the cost of EUR 240 million from French telecommunications regulator Arcep.

The company’s target is to cover 90 percent of the population with its 3G network within eight years, to launch the service within two years and to host MVNOs. The frequency license will be provided to Free Mobile in January.

Free Mobile was the only candidate for the 5 MHz licence in the 2.1GHz band in a procedure launched on 1 August and its application was accepted in consideration of all applicable criteria.

Clear and innovative services at competitive prices particularly designed to help facilitate access to the mobile internet is what the company plans to offer to the consumers.

The applications for remaining 10 MHz of spectrum of the 2.1 GHz band will be called in the first half of next year with the purpose to enable the deployment of new generation and very high-speed mobile networks.

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KCC asks mobile operators to slash call charges (South Korea)

On 09.08.09, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Choi See-joong, the Chairman of South Korean regulator, has reportedly asked mobile operators to lower call charges on the back of an OECD report highlighting the country as one of the world’s most expensive for mobile phone use .

As per his recommendations, a similar pledge by South Korean President Lee Myung-bak to cut mobile rates by 20%. The regulator is considering a variety of methods to force rate reductions, including the banning of handset subsidies to promote cheaper call rates, expanding pre-paid tariffs and most notably allowing the introduction of mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs). However, all three telcos are not in favour of this. SK Telecom has claimed that government interference could have a negative effect on competitiveness in the wireless sector.

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New MVNO launched targeting Chinese Americans

On 10.05.06, In Mobile, By Editor

A new MVNO targeting Chinese-Americans officially launched today, offering cheap international calls to Asia and a Razr phone with menus in Chinese.

Red Pocket Mobile soft-launched about two weeks ago, according to Max Smetannikov, vice president of business development for Global Advertising Strategies, which specializes in helping MVNOs market to multicultural groups. At the Informa MVNO Sustainable Business Models conference, Smetannikov said that Red Pocket would begin a major marketing push in Chinese-language media today. He added that out of “several thousand” handsets that already had been provided to distributors in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, “half the product is gone.”

Smetannikov said that the 4 million Chinese-Americans in the United States make an estimated 150 million minutes worth of calls home each month, and that the demographic is particularly well educated and wealthy. Red Pocket will be a prepaid service that allows its customers to directly dial international calls with no extra steps. Red Pocket will let its customers “use a cell phone like a normal person and call internationally and not lose your shirt,” Smetannikov said.

The service will run on Cingular Wireless L.L.C.’s GSM network and is offering two Motorola Inc. handsets, the Razr (for $200) and the C139 (for $50). Both phones will come with factory-installed Chinese menus, and customers will be able to get mobile content in Chinese, Smetannikov added.

The company is named after the traditional red envelope in which the Chinese distribute money to friends and family during New Year celebrations. The company’s logo is based on a stamp that, up until recently, Chinese citizens used in lieu of a signature, according to Smetannikov.

Red Pocket Mobile’s goal is to have about 100,000 subscribers by the end of 2008.

Since we’ve already got Helio, which is nominally targeting Korean Americans (and trendy youth in general),it makes sense to have an MVNO for the much larger and more influential Chinese American demographic.

Source: RCR News

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