MVNOs could soon be your satellite mobile provider, if their wholesale contract allows
Here’s some exciting news that you may have missed in the run up to Christmas, Ofcom has given the go ahead for the use of mobile spectrum for satellite-to-mobile services. I think this creates a new kind of space race as the UK vies to become the first country in Western Europe to boast the connectivity. As you can imagine, they’ll be some strict rules in place to protect air space safety, but under the terms set out by Ofcom, mobile operators and satellite providers can use existing mobile spectrum for direct-to-device services. If this wasn’t exciting enough, consumers won’t need a special licence to take advantage. It really could be a game changer for rural coverage gripes. As you can imagine there’s already been some activity in anticipation. Notably O2 has partnered with Starlink and Vodafone has inked a deal with AST Space Mobile. This prompts an interesting question for MVNOs: will they get parity on the deals being done? As a general rule, best practice guidance when developing an MVNO contract (and certainly the ones Graystone Strategy has been involved in) is that there is a contractual clause giving MVNO parity of access to existing AND new technologies. So that...
