Xero Chale Banne Hero

You won’t understand the headline unless you watch Bollywood movies, but translated roughly means “Xero in a rather foolhardy attempt to become a hero”. This BW story has some more details (oh, and some rumor control: No, Xero did not raise any money before its reverse merger..that $300 million figure was apocryphal) on its advertising driven MVNO service.
Some wildly ambitious claims on numbers it hopes to achieve: Xero hopes to reach profitability sometime next year and remain profitable thereafter. CEO Peter Lilley’s projections call for the company to generate $1.5 billion in sales in its third year, which would be astonishing growth. It hopes to have 5 million customers by the end of 2007.
Users will get free airtime by watching four video ads, tailored to their interests and each lasting 20 seconds to 30 seconds, a day on their phones. After each ad is viewed, free airtime will be deposited into the user’s account. The plan is to offer one to five free airtime minutes per ad. Students can earn extra airtime by referring friends. The users will also pay about 10 cents per minute for additional minutes.
Also, The company is “close to fully funded,” says Lilley, who asserts Xero will need no more than $190 million to get going (a typical new MVNO requires a $300 million to $500 million investment).

Related:
Ad-Supported MVNO Xero Goes Public In Reverse Merger
Gizmondo Directors Back At Ad-Supported MVNO Xero Mobile

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