Voda’s acquisition of Hutch set the ball rolling – now Virgin Mobile (NYSE: VM) is making its way to India with a 50:50 joint venture with Tata Teleservices (TTSL), reports the Economic Times. Virgin will license its brand, and provide VAS expertise and handsets to TTSL. Apparently, they’re already recruiting and on the hunt for a CEO.
In India, the CDMA players – both Reliance and Tata Indicom – have carved out a space for themselves as mass market brands, providing affordable services. Reliance in particular has tried to reposition itself as a youth brand, while Indicom recently began highlighting its network reliability as a means to better relationships (strange as that sounds). However, neither has emerged as an aspirational brand image – a space occupied by Airtel and Hutch. It is this segment that Virgin is likely to compete, focusing on the youth.
MVNOs, however, are not allowed in India, so ET states that Virgin’s arrangement with TTSL is going to be similar to its arrangement in South Africa with Cell C.
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