How do operators and MVNO find their perfect partners?
At the moment there are two questions hitting my inbox: the first from operators asks whether MVNOs are still important and valuable in the market. The other comes from MVNOs looking to broker a deal – how do they do it? Without doubt, the questions have to be answered with context. Factors such as market maturity, the regulatory regime and local market competition influence the strategy. But no matter whether you are in Europe or Mexico, MVNOs only work if there is a snug fit between the operator and the MVNOs target market. The customer portfolio must be complementary for a successful long term relationship. So, what do operators want from a deal? I’ve broken it down into five considerations: Poaching In my experience, every MVNO is met with a concern about how it would cannibalise operator revenue. Ultimately every wholesale team starts with the question ‘will the MVNO steal a disproportionate share of our customers?’. Good question and always worth asking. Just like any distribution strategy, incremental customers has to be the name of the game. So, to answer the question, MVNOs must prove that they have better access to customer segments than the operator. That has to be the...
