When we look at the maturing mobile operator market, we see a couple of things.  On the one hand, we’re seeing a trend toward the mass market: operators are merging, and taking advantage of their new scale to drive down their costs and compete internationally.  On the other hand, we’re seeing a trend toward the niche market: we see a strong return to the MVNO model, taking advantage of a tight focus on a well-defined niche market. 

 
This niche might be based around a common interest, a common need, a unique way of reaching that niche, or just the fact that the niche is not large enough to be efficiently served by the growing host MNO.  We often see an MVNO with a strong brand and a deep understanding of its niche succeed in the early days not by offering any particularly innovative services, but by simply paying a lot of attention to a group of customers that hadn’t being adequately served until then.

But as MVNOs mature they need to do more.  An MVNO’s success will draw competition, whether from other MVNOs or from other MNO’s, perhaps through their own branded MVNO-like services.  At that point the MVNO is going to need to use innovative solutions to differentiate itself from its competition, and to react quickly when the competition moves first.  We think an MVNO should invest in monetization and personalization solutions that let it develop a culture of service, pricing, and customer care innovation as early as possible, reaping the higher profitability that comes from nurturing longer subscriber relationships.


One example of this kind of forward thinking operator is Viacloud, a leading Mobile Virtual Network Aggregator (MVNA) that’s investing in these solutions so its MVNOs can extend the benefits to their subscribers.  Redknee announced at the GSMA Mobile World Congress that Viacloud has selected Redknee’s billing, rating, settlement and customer care solution to support the launch of its UK operations. 

This announcement followed Redknee's presentation, on day 1 of the MWC event, with KPN Spain, another MVNO that is using Redknee's solutions to provide its subscribers with a differentiated experience and build longer lasting subscriber relationships that lead to increased profitability.