The about 43 companies licensed by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to provide Mobile Virtual Network Operations (MVNO) in Nigeria have been advised not to focus only on voice and data services for revenue generation, but also develop niche operations.
These were parts of the fallout from an MVNO conference organised by Wireless Technology Labs (WTL) in Lagos.
According to experts, who spoke at the forum, MVNO licensees would need to offer an array of value-added services (VAS) that are not being offered currently by the mobile network operators (MNOs).
According to them, many Nigerians are already subscribed to voice and data services from the MNOs and may not want to change to MVNOs for the same services.
Based on the MVNOs architecture, they are expected to start rolling out their services anytime soon and would ride on the existing infrastructure of MNOs.
An MVNO is a telecommunications product and service operator that rides on top of the infrastructure capacity of a fully-licensed mobile telecommunication service provider or MNOs. This means that the operators will not need investments in their infrastructure but leverage existing facilities across the country to provide services.
Speaking during the conference, the Chief Executive Officer of WTL, Satya Mekala, said MVNOs in other climes became profitable by offering VAS and not from data or voice services.
He noted that MVNOs have the advantage of offering services in several areas of the economy, including education, agriculture, and rural development, among others.
“What MVNOs do is that they look at a particular problem in a particular market, for instance in education or agriculture or remote rural areas. They look at it as a business opportunity and provide solutions and they make money.
“Mobile operators are not doing that because they have become very big and very rich and making a lot of money. The MVNOs can only make a small amount of money from voice but they can make a lot of money from VAS,” he said.
Corroborating Mekala, the Vice President, TecnoTree of Himmat Gill, said MVNOs could only survive through market differentiation.
“Market differentiation can serve as a potent strategy for MVNOs to overcome the challenges of low revenue and competition from the MNOs. By distinguishing themselves from competitors, MVNOs can attract and retain customers,” he said.
On his part, the CEO, Portaone, Andriy Zhylenko, listed three areas and seven specific steps that can aid MVNO licensees in service delivery.
According to him, these three areas are that they need to find a customer segment; provide a better customer experience and maximize profits.
Further, he said operators must have a unique business plan; offer solutions for growth (not just data and minutes); bundle third-party services; use in-house low code automation; implement an agile network; customer empowerment through self-care and harvest IoT market growth.
Already, from Fortune Business Insights, the global MVNO market size is projected to rise from $67.54 billion in 2020 to $123.40 billion in 2028, at a CAGR of 7.9 per cent during the forecast period, 2021-2028.
As of June 2014, 943 MVNOs and 255 MNO sub-brands were active worldwide. This represents a total of almost 1,200 mobile service providers worldwide hosted by MNOs, up from 1, 036 in 2012.
