MVNO To Be Big News This Year

One of the big drivers of interesting mobile content this year will be MVNOs, and D.P. Venkatesh (CEO of mPortal, an enabler of mobile content and applications) has some things to say on that. Despite the fact he has an interest in the issue, I agree that it will be content which distinguishes the successful MVNO from the unsuccessful one. He then goes on to predict that the most successful MVNOs will be cable companies, based on three points: First, cable companies tend to have a lot of money to invest; second, they know how to handle billing and customer relations rather than just a brand; and third, they can include mobile as part of a ‘quadruple play’, which is still a new thing in the US.
Although he doesn’t come right out and say it the implication is that companies that have a brand and try to launch an MVNO are going to have a lot of trouble with the customer service. I’m not sure I agree with this — Virgin Mobile had nothing but a brand and is a pretty successful MVNO, and companies like Amp’d and Movida are starting from scratch so although they hype has been around their brands they’re probably working very hard on their customer service — and of course they both have clearly defined target markets which their content is aimed at. Still, there are three dozen niche wireless plays on the go in the US, and it’s possible that by ‘brands’ Venkatesh is refering to companies like Seven Eleven and Walmart launching MVNOs…
Related stories:
MVNOs-The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
The MVNO Battle
The MVNO Market in U.S.

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