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Tuesday, 15 January 2008 |
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UK UMTS operator signs first virtual operator deal.
UMTS operator 3
UK has signed its first mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) deal. For an undisclosed sum, 3
UK will supply wholesale capacity to Gamma Telecom, a company claiming to one of the
UK’s largest providers of voice services and voice applications, reportedly switching over 8bn minutes per annum and supplying service via its channel partners to over 100,000
UK businesses and over 400,000 residential customers. The new MVNO will target the small-to-medium (SME) business sector.
Ovum, in the form of a ‘EuroView Daily Comment’ posting by analyst Raymond Yu, gives the move a qualified thumbs up. Noting that last month 3
UK did a RAN sharing deal with T-Mobile, and assuming that there are no problems with the new partnership, Ovum believes the Gamma deal could encourage other potential MVNOs to consider 3
UK as a reliable host provider. The analyst also reckons Gamma is a complementary partner, targeting the SME sector whereas 3
UK has tended to focus on the consumer.
“However, from Gamma's perspective the
UK market is a difficult one,” cautions Yu. “In January… the
UK market has 17 MVNOs, including Gamma Telecom. The majority of these are very small players, the largest being Virgin Mobile and Tesco. We feel there are potentially better markets for new entrants to enter than the
UK.”
Yu also points out that 3
UK will have to compete with Vodafone and T-Mobile, the main players in the
UK wholesale market. “Clearly winning MVNO deals is now a top priority for Vodafone. It has been particularly active recently, signing a deal with Talkmobile, Carphone Warehouse's new postpaid MVNO, and Lebara in October 2007,” notes Yu. “Therefore, as a late entrant to the
UK mobile wholesale market, we expect 3
UK to struggle to compete with its peers, especially for large scale deals.”
And in another 3 group virtual network development, 3 Italia last month signed an MVNO deal with 50&Più Fenacom, part of the Italian retail association Confcommercio. The new enterprise will target the over-50s.
John Williamson |
