Mobile Roaming Conference Chair's Digest 2011

Mobile Roaming 2011 Digest

The Mobile Roaming Conference was also a great event, and a very successful one too, with a packed schedule of presentations, and a great story built as the presentations moved through the day: starting with the issues, then following with some great case studies and then other strategies for maximising roaming revenue, and making roaming as efficient as possible, from centralising roaming to hubbing to wholesale as part of the roaming strategy... To boot the Hotel was great and the bar proved popular afterwards... so I hear, anyway :)

Roamaing Conference Overview

For those of you who just want the low down, in a few bullets:

• It may be no surprise that volume is increasing as margins are decreasing...
• Data is growing, VAS is growing, voice and SMS is shrinking, just like retail
• Roaming and Wholesale are merging
• We had a great presentation and case study on roaming segmentation which saw a 35% increase in usage, 21% increase in revenue and 13% increase in margin
• EC Roaming regulations require huge amounts of caffeine to sit through... more below
• The IPX is central to CDMA but not yet GSM VAS
• Centralised group roaming departments are doing more group level agreements in a month that they previously did on a country level in a year!

Roaming Conference Presentations:

Here are the bullet point “highlights”:

• As volumes increase but margins decrease things have to change: centralisation, segmentation, more attention to settlement, centralised negotiations by group volume and hubbing...
• The bilateral "spaghetti" model is moving to a more centralised, hubbed "cannelloni" model (yes that second analogy was used).
• Downsizing can just be migrating of smaller routes...
• Data is growing and some interesting VAS were emerging, such a service specific, i.e. Facebook and Twitter daily bundles for example...
• Data is still nowhere near as high as it should be as many just turn data roaming off as the smartphone takes grip, even so it is the growing trend: engaging the "sleeper roamer"! 
• 40% of travellers do not roam at all...
• Thank you messages work... why just AoC roaming welcome messages
• There were a couple of differing views on the EC roaming regulation, especially round the single IMSI, single IMSI breakout or dual IMSI approach... to be honest it is quite clear to me who will go which way (MNOs, MVNOs and hubs), but there is plenty to debate here.
• An interesting point of view was the fact that the breakout model will just drive global revenues to silicon valley, i.e. the Google mobile revenue fund and the Apple mobile revenue share fund
• There is an inbound vs outbound and how bundles should or could make their way from retail into wholesale. We already see it (and very successful!) with some MNOs and MVNOs (we have enabled a few services via the Roaming Welcome message AoC so can see).
• 15% of roaming traffic from one operator was identified as "honey moon" traffic... let's hope it was to elate on happiness and not seek council...
• hubbing not only sees synergies in efficiency, but also revenue assurance!
• MVNOs will drive hub adoption, especially with two month compliance for roaming access in EU roaming regulations
• An analogy was likening the Roaming market to an aviation analogy: air miles, code sharing and alliances are the way forward... there is something in it, though I am not expecting a movie with George Clooney about mobile roaming points anytime soon...
• Airline similarities continue obviously as roaming revenues track airline travel increase... and airline traffic is still growing
• Wholesale is seen a key way to attract the 40% who do not roam at all as well as other "sleeper revenue", VAS is seen as way to get both wholesale and own roaming revenues up, the latter also cannot argue with the stats on segmentation (the former segments itself generally).

MVNO Networking Paris Congress Chair Digest 2011

MVNO Networking Congress 2011 (November) Digest

The MVNO networking congress was a great event, and a very successful one too, just the week before Jayme contacted me to let me know I would be chairing 13 presentation instead of 8, so the schedule was “tight” to say the least!

The MVNO Conference Overview

For those of you who just want the low down, you can see some of the Twitter comments on your left, and my closing bullets were:

• We have seen and continuing to see significant growth in MVNO, so far we have only touched the surface, even in the overcrowded ethnic and low costs space
• MVNO churn is the lowest in pretty much every market
• VAS are key: Data, payments, Social Networking, all generating more value, loyalty and even contributing to any MRG
• Channels are expanding: social, online, new retail
• MVNO growth is now starting in value, as well as size due to previous points

MVNO networking Conference 2012 Presentations:

The intro was pretty quick, I am not big on long intros of the conference of the speakers: speakers bios are so random in their content (we should have top trumps card in the audience if you want to check out bios that are structured instead of random details and regional quirks…) and I think the audience is there to see presentations, so don’t make them wait for presentations… on that note below is my summary, in order to not name names or other anti-social behaviour I do not list by presenter and company but by relevant info. As an Englishman I will no doubt have to engage in some hooliganism afterwards to make up for such sensible and neighbourly behaviour J.

MVNO Networking Conference “highlights”:

• 6 million MVNO customers in France, 50% increase in 2010-2011
• Churn is generally lower in MVNOs (3 sources, 2 continents)
• Annual MVNO churn in France is sub 20% (annual!)
• MVNO customers 14% of UK Market
• “Wholesale is better than no-sale” Old KPN quote was reborn in a pres, good to see!
• One non-full MVNO going full MVNO to have more control over VAS and data provisioning infrastructure as data becomes a key part of their differentiation and marketing strategy
• Another non-full MVNO going full to be able to potentially leverage multiple hosts (not advised, so many MNVOs forget that their host is like their big brother in the playground – even if you do not like him and he may not even care much for you, but if you are on good terms, he can save you getting a wedgie or a swirlie) i.e. you will generally get more from an engaged single MNO than you would ever get by trying to trade MNOs off against each other. This is the case even at initial negotiation stage.
• On this note we had an MNO likening the MVNO to a clown fish and the operator to the sea anemone, with one protecting the other from the rest of the creatures (sharks) in the sea… This MNO is actively seeking clownfish!
• The MNO used to use the MVNE as a filter, now more flexible and used as a solution
• La Poste has 2.2 Million customers in Italy, looking to move to full MVNO due to scale, it is a “buy” vs. “make” strategy.
• La Poste MVNO have the lowest churn in Italy.
• 50% of La Poste customers have made a mobile payments transaction via the card linked with the mobile account.
• Colruyt supermarket MVNO launched in Belgium, a la Tesco Mobile model: the key is a line from the music industry “once a hit, always a hit” if a model has been successful in one country, it is likely to do the same in another, again and again.
• MVNOs managed to make a “per min” and “per message” business back in a “bundle” market space, they are doing the same in data, charging a premium in “per meg” data. In Denmark the main MVNO is doing this at a premium of 2.5x market rate.
• Online is the key channel to avoid “shelf overload”. The customer now has so much choice in the typical retail establishments. Telmore has reached 800,000 subscribers in Denmark (over 12% of Danish market in just one MVNO) mostly via online.
• If not online, other innovative channels are required, especially in places like the Austrian market, where €10 gets you 1000 mins and 1000 SMS, an MVNO has to do more than just traditional channels.
• Social Networking is becoming a key differentiator
• Some interesting comments on the EC Roaming regulation (its all relative, they were interesting as roaming regulation comments, but not interesting enough for a blog!) but if someone is interested enough I can dig them out...

... the main MVNO page archive ...

MVNO blog has moved!

below is the rest of the original blog main page archive, I shall be moving the old blog over shortly, so apologies if any of the links fail while this happens, but please comment if you do find a broken link and I will try and fix it as soon as possible:

There has never been a better time for the MVNO

The MVNO has had its set backs (see my failed MVNOs page) however the conditions have never been better time for MVNOs; with MNOs clearly wishing to capitalise on the opportunity, mobile saturation to the point that a new service provider will attract significant potential customers (i.e. competitors' churn), and many other factors assisting the process. There are still pitfalls, however, the main one is competing with an MNO on MNO's terms by offering all you can eat bundles and expensive customer acquisition processes which will see the MVNO's cost per gross added customer soar: The key to an successful MVNO, and moreover a successful MNO-MVNO relationship, is to attract a customer cheaper and keep a customer longer... there are a couple of existing and an emerging MVNO that look close to entering the page linked to at the top of this paragraph - only time will tell!

posted by Christian Borrman 06:26pm 04/05/10

Nokia hardware MVNO

Reportedly Nokia is planning a Hardware MVNO in Japan, which would push the OVI portal services within this market. As correctly pointed out in this article, by Rethink wireless that Nokia has found it difficult to enter the Japanese market due to the operators' insistence on using i-mode type services, these services will not necessarily be a barrier to the success of a hardware and on device portal MVNO, read more

posted by Christian Borrman 19:26pm 24/11/08

Dell hardware MVNO

The MVNO has been and continues to be a slow beast. One MVNO model that is heavily overdue is the Dell MVNO, having already ventured into deals with carphone warehouse and Vodafone for laptops with mobile or fixed broadband, the onslaught of the new sub £300 laptops is making read more

posted by Christian Borrman 11:26am 24/11/08

Another Failed MVNO - Dot Mobile added to the list

It is not hard to see why. In 2005 I was lured to head up the mobile arm of £12m start-up icom, which included a youth MVNO, however, the most common expression I would hear to my repeated youth MVNO business models and plans from the billionaire funder and financier in board meetings was “Bollocks!”. read more MVNO failures

Apple Global MVNO

It is no secret that a typical MVNO may only manage to get a 10% to 40% margin on calls, onto which it has to add its costs. This is usually OK, and many of these have either already been sunk, written off or are ... read full article

Tesco Converged MVNO; VoIP, VoWLAN using SIP and own broadband VoIP service

One of the key issues of Tesco when first negotiating their MVNO when I was at Mason Analysis, was that the host MNO needed a certain level of success and takeup for the then MNO investment in the MVNO (there were no MVNEs at the time) however, if the MVNO became too successful, it could prove a burden on the host network. Convergence is a simple way to... read more

posted by Christian Borrman 13:23am 28/05/08

More MVNO failures

Dotmobile has been added to the long list of MVNO failures. It was not hard, when I was lured to join Social networking web start-up icom, my first task was to set-up a youth MVNO. "Boll**ks" was the response from the billionaire investor to my first draft that the industry and my peers were lapping up for a youth MVNO. The truth is... read more

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posted by Christian Borrman 11:26pm 28/03/08

Apple Global MVNO

It is no secret that a typical MVNO may only manage to get a 10% to 40% margin on calls, onto which it has to add its costs. This is usually OK, and many of these have either already been sunk, written off or are ... read full article

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originally posted by Christian Borrman 11:26am 25/09/07

 

RE: Why Europe's Mobile Startups Sing

... the artcile in Businees Week, Why Europe's Mobile Startups Sing ... is right in that one MVNO model is the low cost route, however there are more important keys I have seen, from behind the scenes, that have made or broke MVNOs in ... read full article

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originally posted by Christian Borrman 11:26am 25/09/07

 

Is there value in MVNOs?

I have received an email from Pyramid with this title. It is amazing ... just two year's after publishing "Next Generation MVNOs" that Pyramid finally ask if there is still value in the last generation MVNO. Well no; there was no value in the old MVNO model in 2004 when I began writing the report, nor was there in 2005 when it was published; even less so today. Today's MVNO is a much leaner ... read full article

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originally posted by Christian Borrman 06:50am 05/04/07