Category Archives: Mobile Operators
Guest Post: How segment of one marketing can help dumb pipes become smart marketers
Rating: Founder also takes a pop at PrimeLocation’s mobile site
51Degrees.mobi, put together a very interesting chart last week. This chart which shows web traffic usage for the Blackberry Z10 in comparison to the traffic for the Sony Xperia Z during March 2013. They are two of the main contenders for ‘also-ran’ or Tier Two smartphones so it is intriguing to see how ell they are doing. below are some of the findings. Continue reading
4G only very mildly interferes with TV in UK
Rating: Fewer problems than forecast with TV reception during 4G test
In the UK, at800 has just completed its first live test to help discover the extent to which Freeview (free digital TV) would be affected by 4G. In the UK, 4G mobile services operating at 800 MHz won’t be launched until later 2013. There are worries that cellular signals could clash with digital TV signals. at800 seems to have proved that these worries are largely unfounded. Continue reading
Guest Post: Great Expectations from mobile networks
by Patrick Monaghan, product manager, The Now Factory
Patience has never been my strong point. When it comes to browsing and watching videos on my mobile, I’m much less forgiving of having to hang around for videos to start or web pages to load. The simple reason for this is, along with the majority of mobile data users, my expectations are really high. Delivery speeds may well be better as mobile operators roll out greater network capacity but the question remains – is it fast enough? Continue reading
White Mobile calls-up Tweakker for worldwide connectivity
White Mobile utilises Tweakker’s unique mobile internet technology ensuring customers connect seamlessly to the internet, and can send MMS and email to anywhere in the world
Press release
April 2nd 2013. Britain’s White Mobile has announced that it has teamed-up with Tweakker to ensure its customers enjoy seamless global connectivity from power-up. By adopting Tweakker’s connectivity platform, the MVNO can expect to at least double data usage on its virtual network. Continue reading
MVNOs World Congress 2013
[ April 23, 2013 9:00 am to April 24, 2013 6:00 pm. ] Organiser: Informa
Venue: Radisson Blu
Location: Rome, Italy
Web: http://mvnosworldcongress.com
Register here.
The only event dedicated to the Global MVNO market Continue reading
101: Direct operator Billing/Direct Carrier Billing
Sponsored by txtNation
Within the mobile and cellular worlds, there’s a growing appreciation of the true worth of DoB (Direct operator Billing) or Direct Carrier Billing as it is often referred to in North America. Essentially DoB is an easy way of making payments to purchase goods or service by placing the charge against a prepay or postpaid mobile phone’s bill. Mobile network operators (MNOs) and MVNOs (Mobile Virtual Network Operators) alike see Direct operator Billing as a means to regain ground lost to the online majors such as Google (Play); Apple (iTunes); and Amazon in mobile commerce (m-commerce). This is especially true now that MNOs and MVNOs have come to accept that their own portals cannot compete effectively with the online giants. We suggest you contact a DoB specialist (such as txtNation) for a full list of territories in which DoB/DOC is offered. 1 Continue reading
Number of Chinese operators could triple says Pyramid
Rating: Chinese telecom regulator given Green light to MVNOs
In a new research note put out by Pyramid Research entitled, ‘Chinese regulator opens up to MVNOs‘, the market watcher predicts that the number of operators in China could triple from three to nine nine by June 2013. That’s because the Chinese telecom regulator, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has finished a month-long consultation,. Each of the three infrastructure-based mobile network operators (MNOs) — China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom — will make their services accessible to at least two MVNOs, resulting in the threefold increase. Better still, Pyramid appears to have identified at least two of the potential MVNOs. The numbers involved are mind-blowing. Continue reading
Guest Post: The mobile industry desperately needs a General Motors
by Victor Basta, md with Magister Advisors
Mobile data ‘value add service’ companies, including apps advertising and content providers, which were so prevalent at Mobile World Congress (MWC) Barcelona, are under intense price pressure and must consolidate to build scale, I firmly believe. The App World section of the exhibition at MWC had 250 exhibitors alone this year, up more than 25 per cent on last year, reflecting the enormous growth in small companies straining to find a profitable niche. Dozens of these companies have App as part of their name, reflecting the urgent clamour to achieve relevance and prominence. Continue reading
UK postpaid hikes could incense UK subscribers
Rating: Tesco might be making a smart move
There’s nothing like personal experience to bring home a crucial issue in the mobile industry to you. And GoMo News has just received some very important news from our UK MNO – Orange. Yes, we have two separate accounts with the marketing arm of EE and have just been informed that our contracts are going up. They are not particularly steep rises but it is the principle that matters. Like most UK consumers we weren’t aware although the contract’s timescale is binding, the payment amount isn’t. MNOs are currently free to raise it. Which makes the recent announcement from UK MVNO Tesco (see here) so more important. Continue reading
Guest Post: Social is a business weapon – it’s about time Telcos got serious
by Bruno Teuber, a senior vp with Lithium
Now that the dust has settled after MWC 2013, it’s apparent that one of the main takeaways is the fact that the intersection between mobile and social is becoming more amplified than ever before. Telecom companies (Telcos) are beginning to realise how important it is to implement a [...]
Redknee’s billing helps i-wireless rescue a brand loyalty campaign
Rating: Processes that took up two days now take just minutes
i-wireless, a US based MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator), found itself in dire straits when it rolled out a loyalty rewards scheme for the Kroger family of retail outlets in the USA. Instead of boosting loyalty, the programme created massive customer dissatisfaction – damaging the brands and increasing calls to customer support. The reason was that processes could take between two hours and two days. That was until Redknee stepped and the whole thing took only minutes. Continue reading
Net-m shows off complete white lable mobile OS
Rating: And it is aimed at European operators
It just goes to show when wandering around an exhibition as vast as MWC 2013 it is actually worth taking the fliers. Incidentally, MWC now reminds GoMobile News of CeBIT Hanover rather than a cosy GSM show that used to be held in Cannes. Anyway, on a small leaflet from Germany’s net-m (Net Mobile) was the sentence, “net-m OS is a new white label operating system based on open standards and based on core web technologies.” Oh No, we thought. Not another mobile OS to compete against Android and iOS. However, net-m’s Dr Hermann Simon Lichte revealed that his company actually builds on top of the Mozilla Firefox OS in order to create a white label OS aimed at operators. And European operators not just those in developing markets. Continue reading
Ensygnia demos onescan visual NFC to GoMo @ MWC
Rating: Great automated automated online purchasing app
By happy co-incidence, whilst networking at the MWC 2013 here in Barcelona, GoMobile News came across Richard Harris (not that one) who is CEO with a mob called Ensygnia. He got us extremely interested in the company’s technology which is called ‘onescan’. Harris described this offering as a kind of ‘visual NFC’. Given GoMobile News’ own poor experiences with NFC at MWC, we can see this technology going great guns. In fact, we wouldn’t be surprised if the company isn’t snapped up by one of the Big Banks. Continue reading
UK finally sells off its 4G/LTE spectrum
Rating: Sees BT re-entering mobile space ‘super-Wi-fi hotspot’
The UK comms regulator, Ofcom, has finally announced the results of its 4G spectrum auction. The four existing UK mobile operators have won new spectrum and we have seen a subsidiary of fixed-line incumbent, BT -Niche Spectrum Ventures win spectrum, too. This means that BT has re-entered the cellular market after – in our humble opinion, the disastrous decision to float off its mobile arm – O2. But BT many not be planning to become the UK’s fifth national mobile network operator, according to John Delaney a research director for consumer mobile with IDC. Anyway, EE and Vodafone have acquired spectrum in both 800MHz and 2.6GHz bands, while Hutchison (3UK) and Telefonica (O2) only got 800 MHz spectrum. Niche Spectrum Ventures (NSV) only has acquired spectrum in the 2.6 GHz band. Continue reading
