Harsh reality of virtual networks
The growth of mobile virtual network operators, which use leased network capacity from an existing carrier, is presenting leading mobile phone operators with a dilemma. Long-established operators that shun wholesale deals with new entrants will be cutting off a potentially lucrative revenue stream. But those that sign deals with powerful brands could be introducing fierce, potentially destabilising competitors into the mobile market.
Some of Europe's leading entrepreneurs are already eyeing the expanding mobile phone sector as their next big area for growth. Now, following the flotation in July of Virgin Mobile in the UK, it is the virtual mobile operator model that is attracting their interest. Stelios Haji-Ioannou, founder of the Easy Group, Charles Dunstone, chief executive of Carphone Warehouse, and Richard Branson, head of the Virgin Group, are all considering new markets that would be ripe for virtual mobile arms.
Mr Haji-Ioannou has ambitions to launch cut-price virtual mobile services across Europe and is understood to be in advanced discussions with potential carriers for voice calls in a number of European countries, including the overcrowded UK market. Mr Dunstone is exploring opportunities for further mobile arms throughout Europe following the creation of his company's new virtual operator arm in France in conjunction with Orange.
Mr Branson's Virgin Group is in advanced talks with an established mobile operator in China that are likely to see the creation of a new Virgin-branded mobile operator in the country before the end of the year. Virgin is also looking at launching more mobile businesses in several other markets, from India to Mexico.
The interest from these leading entrepreneurs is a strong sign that plenty of opportunities remain for the mobile virtual network operators (MVNO) business model, despite saturation of many western European mobile markets and the existence of several successful virtual operators in countries such as Denmark, the UK and Norway.
Indeed, interest is stretching to include many leading retail brands, particularly those with strong distribution outlets, which hope to grow revenue per customer and increase customer loyalty. Many operators across Europe are indicating they are having discussions with new entrants about setting up new mobile arms.
“There have been a number of studies showing that the more products a customer has from one provider the more loyal they become,” explains Charles Walker, head of business development at Servista, a company that helps new entrants launch and manage mobile operations.
The MVNO is also seen as a relatively simple way of extending brands into new markets without investing huge sums. Running a virtual operator means new entrants are not required to stump up hundreds of millions of dollars building infrastructure. The virtual operator model allows them to piggy-back on the networks of established operators by buying voice capacity at reduced wholesale rates. Most MVNO successes have targeted lower-spending pre-pay users where upfront costs such as handset subsidies tend to be low.
There are also attractions for established operators, many of whom see the MVNO as a means of winning customers outside their core target markets. MMO, BT Group's former mobile arm, has sought to expand its consumer appeal without damaging its existing brand through its tie-up with Tesco, the supermarket group in the UK, and its deal with Tchibo, the coffee shop chain in Germany. “MVNOs give us access to the types of customers that might not have been top priority for us to go after,” explains Sohail Qadri, director of strategy at MMO. MMO has teamed up with trusted brands that do not compete with its own marketing campaigns. While O, its consumer brand, scores well among the youth market and higher spending early users, Tesco Mobile and Tchibo will be aimed at family users.
Regulators in some markets see the virtual model as a way of fostering new competition. Already two new entrants - Carphone Warehouse and Debitel, the German telecoms operator - have set up virtual arms in France following encouragement from ART, the telecoms regulator. Orange, France Telecom's mobile arm, has said it is in discussions to sign up more brands to offer virtual mobile services.
This surge in interest is likely to increase competitive pressures on the established mobile operators, some of which are already starting to lose customers to new entrants such as 3, the mobile operator controlled by Hong Kong's Hutchison Whampoa, which is winning market share on the back of cut-price voice tariffs.
Some analysts fear that new entrants such as Easy Group could destabilise the fragile dominance of some of the leading operators. Easy Group intends to avoid expensive handset subsidy costs by just selling SIMs, the smart cards inside mobile phones that identify and authenticate users, to consumers who already own a mobile phone.
Easy Group is also likely to slash distribution costs by selling SIMs only over the internet, allowing it to pass on more cost savings to the consumer.
A similar model adopted by new entrant Telmore in Denmark has transformed the market by allowing it to undercut the charging models of the established operators by as much as 60 per cent. Established operators have been forced to respond with their own price cuts to stem customer defections. Even so, Telmore and rival Tele2 have captured a 20 per cent market share, making Denmark the most successful market for virtual operators in Europe.
Price is only one element of the equation. Analysts say branding is vital for any new entrant wanting to make its mark as a mobile operator. Even apparently invincible global brands can come unstuck if they fail to get their customer proposition right. Despite success in the UK and early advances in the US, Virgin Mobile was forced to pull its joint venture in Singapore with local operator Singtel, partly because its brand did not translate well to the local market.
“Having an easy, friendly and trusted brand appear to be essential traits for an MVNO,” says Tom Russell, partner in the telecoms practice at Mercer Management Consulting. Mr Qadri predicts more MVNOs will enter the market but says many will find the market tough.
“What has happened is that everyone's aunt and uncle is interested in MVNOs at the moment,” he says. “But with one success you'll probably have 200 failures. When [MMO] had our discussions with Tesco we realised here was a trusted brand that had a reputation for delivery and a strong distribution network - the keys to success.”
But virtual operators' relatively low fixed-cost base means profitability is possible without winning a huge slice of the market. In many markets, there is likely to be room for several MVNOs, some with low single-digit market share.
From mobile virgin to leading player through sex and simplicty
In just five years Virgin Mobile has established itself as a force in the UK mobile market. Despite the lacklustre demand for its flotation that forced Virgin radically to trim the price of its mobile initial public offering last month, Virgin Mobile has won customers with simple-to-understand tariffs and controversial marketing.
The mobile operator now has 4.25m customers in the UK with little sign that growth is slowing. Indeed, its success has been hailed as a model for the MVNO market. Its strong brand, targeted at fashion-conscious youth and combined with an easy-to-understand consumer proposition, has taken market share from the established operators. Tom Alexander, chief executive of Virgin Mobile, attributes much of its success to “tweaking all these quirky things that make the difference”.
Virgin Mobile was the first operator in the UK not to plaster its boxes with pictures of handsets. Instead it used alluring photos of the young and attractive. Its insurance contract - normally the last document any consumer wants to read - comes wrapped in a condom-style package.
This approach, including often controversial advertisements such as a recent one featuring the singer Christina Aguilera simulating sex, has helped build a strong following among young users. The customer profile has also meant about one-third of Virgin Mobile's revenues come from text messages, compared with an industry average of less than 20 per cent. It also achieved a sort of viral marketing success by charging only 3p a text to other Virgin users. Virgin Mobile understood the significance of strong distribution - its handsets are on sale at more than 5,000 outlets across the UK.
Yet some industry analysts argue the operator will find it harder to deliver customer growth as it moves beyond the low hanging fruit, and that its deal with T-Mobile as the carrier for voice minutes is unrealistically low priced. If the UK market enters a new era of price competition, some believe Virgin Mobile will have little room for manoeuvre.
虚拟网络的严酷现实
移动虚拟网络运营商(MVNO)是指从现有电信公司租用网络容量的移动服务提供商。这些运营商的不断涌现，令各家领先的移动网运营商陷入两难境地。一方面，那些不愿与新进入者做批发业务的老牌运营商，将会失去这一部分潜在的丰厚收入。另一方面，那些与强大品牌签约的运营商，又会把强悍的竞争对手引入移动市场，可能推翻现有竞争格局。
欧洲的一些领先企业家，已将日益扩张的移动电话业务，视为其下一步发展的巨大领域。继“维珍移动”(Virgin Mobile)7月份在英国上市后，移动虚拟运营商的业务模式，吸引了这些大企业家的兴趣。
在英国，Easy Group创建人斯特里奥斯?哈吉-埃奥诺(Stelios Haji-Ioannou)、Carphone Warehouse首席执行官查尔斯?邓斯通(Charles Dunstone)、以及维珍集团(Virgin Group)总裁理查德?布兰森(Richard Branson)，都在考虑适于开设移动虚拟运营分部的新市场。
哈吉-埃奥诺先生的雄心，是在全欧洲推出廉价的虚拟移动服务。据悉，他正在若干欧洲国家(包括已经过度拥挤的英国市场)与潜在的语音通话承载商开展深入会谈。邓斯通先生正在欧洲各地探索进一步开设移动业务分部的可能性，此前Carphone Warehouse与“橙电信”(Orange)联手，已在法国创建了自己的移动虚拟运营分部。
布兰森先生的维珍集团正在同中国的一家老牌移动运营商展开深入会谈，有望促成一家维珍品牌的移动公司年内在中国创建。维珍集团还寻求在其它多个市场创办更多移动业务，从印度到墨西哥。
尽管许多西欧移动市场已呈饱和状态，尽管丹麦、英国和挪威等国已经有了一批成功的移动虚拟运营商，但这些领先企业家所表现的兴趣，强烈地预示着移动虚拟网络运营商(MVNO)的业务模式还是有很多的机会。
事实上，这种兴趣正蔓延到许多领先的零售品牌，尤其是拥有强大销售渠道的零售公司，它们希望增加每顾客人均营业收入，并提高顾客的忠诚度。
欧洲各地许多运营商表示，他们正在与新进入者商讨新建移动服务运营分部的事宜。
“一系列研究表明，顾客从同一家提供商购买的产品越多，他们就越是忠诚，” Servista公司业务发展部主管查尔斯?沃克(Charles Walker)解释道。Servista是一家帮助新进入者开办和经营移动业务的公司。
移动虚拟网络运营(MVNO)模式也被看作一种相对简单的运营方式，能使公司在不作大笔投资的情况下将业务扩展到新的市场。经营虚拟移动业务，意味着新进入者无需花费上亿美元兴建基础设施。虚拟运营模式使他们能够以批发折扣价从老牌运营商手中购买语音通话容量，从而依附于老牌运营商的网络上。移动虚拟网络运营的成功者，大多以消费较低的预付用户为目标，在预付领域，手机补贴之类的前期成本一般较低。
对于老牌运营商来说，移动虚拟网络运营模式也有吸引力。许多运营商认为该模式是他们在核心目标市场之外赢得顾客的一个手段。MMO2公司的前身是英国电信集团(BT Group)移动分部。该公司已寻求通过与英国超市集团Tesco的联系和与德国咖啡连锁店Tchibo的协议，既提高自身对消费者的吸引力，又不损害已有的品牌。
“移动虚拟网络运营模式，使我们获得了我们过去可能不会优先追求的顾客，” MMO2公司策略总监索哈伊尔?夸德里(Sohail Qadri)解释说。
对一些不会与自己的营销活动构成竞争的可信任的品牌，MMO2已经与他们展开了合作。MMO2的消费者市场品牌“O2”在青少年市场和消费较高的早期用户中业绩颇佳，而其Tesco Mobile和Tchibo业务将瞄准家庭用户。
有些市场的管理机构认为虚拟模式是培育新的竞争的一种手段。Carphone Warehouse和德国电信运营商Debitel是两家新进入者，它们已经在电信管理机构ART的鼓励下在法国建立了移动部门。法国电信集团(France Telecom)属下的移动业务分支“橙电信”(Orange)已经表示，他们正在进行一些商谈，打算与更多品牌签约，提供虚拟移动服务。
这种高涨的兴趣，很有可能增加老牌移动运营商的竞争压力，它们当中有一些的客户已经流失到“3”之类的新进入者那边了。“3”是由香港和记黄埔公司(Hutchison Whampoa)控制的移动运营商，它在推出廉价的语音服务之后，目前正在赢得市场份额。
有些分析师担心，Easy Group等新进入者可能会颠覆一些大运营商脆弱的主导地位。为避免高额的手机补贴成本，Easy Group打算只向已经拥有移动电话的消费者出售SIM识别卡，这种智能卡装在移动电话内，用于识别和认证用户身份。
Easy Group还可能只在互联网上销售SIM卡，以此大幅降低分销成本，也让用户分享成本节省的果实。
新进入的丹麦电信公司Telmore采用一种类似手法改变了市场，它的售价比老牌运营商的收费模式降低了60%之多。老牌运营商为了阻止顾客流失，被迫降低自己的价格作为对策。即使这样，Telmore及其竞争对手Tele2仍夺得了20%的市场份额，使丹麦成为欧洲最成功的虚拟运营商市场。价格仅仅是方程式中的一个因素。分析师们说，对于新进入者而言，只要它希望成为一家成功的移动运营公司，品牌就是最关键的。倘若未能面向目标顾客群进行恰当的市场定位，即便某些看上去不可战胜的国际品牌也会受挫。维珍移动公司虽然在英国获得了成功，且在美国也取得了初期的领先，但在新加坡仍不得不联手当地运营商Singtel一同推进其合资企业，部分原因就是维珍的品牌未能很好地转换到当地市场。
“移动虚拟网络运营商的关键品质，似乎是拥有一个轻松、友好和可信赖的品牌，” 美智管理咨询公司(Mercer Management Consulting)电信事务合伙人汤姆?拉塞尔(Tom Russell)说。MMO2公司策略总监夸德里先生预言将有更多的移动虚拟网络运营商进入市场，但他又说，其中许多运营商将发现市场是很严酷的。
“眼下的局面是，每个人的三亲六戚都对移动虚拟网络运营模式感兴趣，”他说：“但是在一个人成功的同时，你可能看到200人失败。当我们[MMO2]和Tesco洽谈时，我们意识到这是一个可信赖的品牌，它因为良好的送货系统和强大的分销网络而闻名；这些正是成功的关键。”
然而，虚拟运营商的固定成本相对较低，因此不用赢得很大的市场份额就能保证能够盈利。许多市场都可能容得下好几个移动虚拟网络运营商，即使其中某些运营商所占的市场份额只能达到个位数。
