About Three Wholesale – Superdrug Mobile
Three UK is the challenger mobile network operator in the UK targeting consumer customers and with a market share of 10% of the entire mobile telecoms market. Three is part of the CKH Group, one of the largest conglomerates in the world with a turnover of $53bn and a telecoms division that operates in 12 countries serving 130m subscribers.
Three Wholesale are focused on driving incremental growth for Three UK by re-selling access to Three’s high-quality network to MVNOs, Roaming partners, IOT service providers and bulk SMS aggregators.
The Business Challenge
Three Wholesale were growing fast and had aggressive targets to bring a new white label MVNO model to market. They already had a brand, Superdrug, interested in launching an MVNO on the new capability but they were struggling to allocate experienced team members to lead the project due to many other business priorities.
The Solution
Graystone Strategy were approached by Three Wholesale because of our expertise in the wholesale market and track record of launching MVNOs across Europe. We deployed one of our most experience consultants to deliver the following for Three Wholesale.
- Engage with Superdrug and help them to understand the MVNO opportunity.
- Jointly develop the customer proposition that would maximise value for both parties.
- In parallel develop the Three Wholesale telecoms as a service (TaaS) platform to support Superdrug and other MVNOs requiring a managed MVNO service.
- Negotiate the MVNO partnership agreement with Superdrug. This was a different agreement to a standard MVNO contract due to the managed service elements.
- Build the internal Three teams to develop and deploy the MVNO.
- Deliver contractual agreements with vendors supporting TaaS including payments, digital and billing suppliers.
- Manage monthly Governance, escalations and discussions with internal and external stakeholders to CEO level.
Outcomes
Superdrug Mobile launched on time with a significant marketing launch including sponsorship of ITV’s Love Island franchise.
The MVNO has been a significant success in driving customer loyalty for Superdrug and revenues for Three Wholesale, this has been recognised by Superdrug Mobile winning the Best MVNO award in 2019.
In addition, the TaaS model has won awards for Three, for innovation in Wholesale and is an effective and efficient way for brands to launch telecoms propositions.
Darren King Head of Business Development at Three Wholesale commented, “I have loved working with Graystone Strategy both on this project and subsequent ones on which we have engaged them. They bring the right balance of experience, expertise, practicality and a really great approach to working with their clients. I would not hesitate to recommend them.”