Virgin Mobile to Invade France

October 24, 2005 - Virgin Mobile, the Carphone Warehouse and Virgin Management Limited announced that they are in discussions regarding the launch of a nationwide Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) in France.

Recommended Competitive Responses

► Competitors should expect Virgin Mobile France to enter with more than just voice and SMS - every other Virgin Mobile subsidiary (in Canada, Australia and the US) has entered the market with a content offering from day one.

► Universal Mobile should freshen up the Gallery and launch full-track music downloads immediately.

► NRJ should take advantage of its earlier-planned launch to underline its youth-centric marketing focus and 3G-enhanced portfolio.

► debitel France should expect a prepaid challenge from Virgin Mobile, and look to defend its turf.

Recommended End User/Customer Responses

► As Virgin Mobile France has yet to launch, there are no end user recommendations at this time.

Telefónica Bids for O2

October 31, 2005 -- The Boards of Directors for Telefónica and O2 announced that an agreement has been reached on the terms of a recommended cash offer, to be made by Goldman Sachs International and Citigroup on behalf of Telefónica, to acquire the entire issued and to-be-issued share capital of O2.

Recommended Competitive Responses

► FreeMove alliance partners should carefully consider the future of the alliance. With major operational overlaps in three out of four of the home markets, the need for the alliance seems hard to justify.

► Starmap alliance partners should also consider the future of their alliance, given the recent defections of Amena and O2. However, unlike FreeMove, this alliance does not have any market conflicts.

► Orange and T-Mobile should play down the significance of this move by Telefónica and point out that they also have similar footprints in major markets across Europe.

Recommended End User/Customer Responses

► Existing O2 customers should not notice any short-term changes due to the acquisition by Telefónica.

► In the medium-term, customers should question O2 as to the benefits of this acquisition in terms of additional services or lower prices. 

3 UK Offers Mobile Media Convergence

October 18, 2005 - 3 UK set out its strategy to build services based on the convergence of communications, entertainment and information. Communications includes all forms of personal communications, voice and video calling, text and picture messaging and customer blogging. Entertainment offers television and video clips, music audio and video, computer games services and media publishing. Information services include access to the Internet, My 3, which allows customers to top-up through their handset and a range of products such as Magic Eye which enables users to dial-in to a remote camera using their phone. 3 UK also announced a customer created content channel and a search for a partner to sell advertising space on the network.  

Recommended Competitive Responses

► Rivals in the UK market should look to spice up their existing video services with similar customer

reality TV video services, similar to 3's See Me TV or mobile video karaoke.

► Competitors in the UK mobile market should also set out their vision for the future of 3G services beyond downloads and music videos or TV content. With the important pre-Christmas sales season just around the corner, mobile operators need to raise their profile and win the hearts and minds of consumers.

Recommended End User/Customer Responses

► Budding TV stars should try the new See Me TV services and see how much they can make from their talents. Whilst the rewards are not great, receiving the endorsement of your peers would provide a great boost for new talent.

► Potential customers should look to the new line up of TV services from 3 UK, since this offers real choice for a reasonable cost of GBP 5 per month. However, customers should try before they buy with a new mobile handset, since whilst the content is available anywhere, viewing on such a small screen could pose a problem for many.

TDC Mobile Enters Norwegian Market with MVNO

October 25, 2005 -- - TDC Mobile enters into an MVNO agreement with Telenor in Norway. This allows TDC to start selling TDC Mobile's services to Norwegian customers in Q1 2006. The mobile services will be provided via TDC Song, while TDC Mobile will provide the MVNO services. 

Recommended Competitive Responses

► TeliaSonera should stress the ‘physical' nature of its mobile presence across the region, since the company has access to its own mobile assets, rather than relying on MVNO agreements.

► Vodafone should look to leverage TDC Mobile's MVNO in Norway to fill a gap in the company's Nordic portfolio.

► Telenor needs to plug the obvious gap in its mobile portfolio and conclude an MVNO agreement in Finland.

Recommended End User/Customer Responses

► Business customers in the Danish market should now consider TDC Mobile's regional portfolio for their mobility needs. Customers should look to TDC to offer regional tariffs and discount deals on roaming services across the region for both voice and data services.

► Customers should question TDC as to the availability of fixed and mobile convergence services across the region. With TeliaSonera publicly stating its aim, customers should ensure that TDC's vision is just as compelling.

Free Advisory Report

The French MVNO Market Expands, in all Directions

The French MVNO market has been late to flower, and the fruit looks very strange indeed. Whereas the focus of early MVNO markets has been the low-cost consumer sector, the French MVNO market - just one year old - is already highly diverse. In the rest of Europe, the term ‘MVNO' has become synonymous with cheap, unsophisticated consumer-centric tariffs: online SIM-only and ‘no-frills' offers, intense price depreciation and the proliferation of youth-centric brands.

However, of the ten French MVNOs created to date, only two offer a classic prepaid tariff. Three offer subscriptions with some inclusive value-added ‘unlimited calling' - considered throughout Europe to be the cutting edge of tariff innovation.

Furthermore, 40% of all French MVNOs have successfully negotiated for GPRS or UMTS capacity leasing, with clear ambitions to compete in the higher-value mobile content space. What's going on?

Click here to read the full Advisory Report

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