MVNOs break new ground

2009 witnessed the arrival of around 70 new MVNOs. Many of these were triple/quad play offerings or targeting the usual market niches e.g. migrants. However, 2009 also witnessed MVNOs breaking new ground with a number of launches outside North American and European markets. The first MVNOs were launched in Oman, Senegal and Thailand, while major expansions of MVNO activity were also witnessed in Malaysia and New Zealand. The established Western European MVNO markets of Germany, Italy and Spain all saw a number of launches. One of the more interesting arrivals was Kirene Mobile in Senegal (Kirene is a brand of mineral water). Besides Yemba in Cameroon, however, MVNOs still remain largely unknown outside South Africa. A higher profile launch was Nokia’s upmarket Vertu Club in Japan, following its withdrawal from the country's fiercely competitive handset business.

As usual a number of MVNOs found themselves being 'disconnected' during the year, including UK ad-funded MVNO blyk. Qwest also exited the US MVNO market to become a Verizon reseller while Tele2 bailed on its French MVNO by selling out to Virgin Mobile. However, the Western European MVNO market is also showing signs of reaching saturation point with Belgium and the Netherlands seeing a number of unloved smaller players departing. Some more well-known MVNO names also exited the sector, including Virgin Mobile USA (following its acquisition by Sprint) and Virgin Mobile Canada (following its acquisition by Bell Mobility).

Although not an MVNO, O2 brand giffgaff launched in the UK with an alternative business model that involves getting customers to do much of the promotional/customer care work. How they perform will be watched closely by the industry in the year ahead, where we expect the number of operator owned sub-brands to continue to proliferate in mature markets as operators seek to tap every possible market segment for growth.

(This article is part of a series of predictions for 2010 from the GSMA Intelligence team.)