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(NEWZIMBABWE) Econet targets UK’s 2.8 million Africans

Econet targets UK’s 2.8 million Africans
by Business Reporter
04/08/2010 00:00:00

ECONET Wireless has taken over the British interests of Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) IDT Mobile, and plans to launch pay-as-you-go services targeting the estimated 2.8 million Africans resident in the UK.

IDT Mobile, a subsidiary of US conglomerate IDT, signed a wholesale agreement with the Orange Group in 2007 but the company failed to break the Libera Mobile and LycaMobile stranglehold particularly in the ethnic market resulting in management’s decision to sell-off to Econet.

MVNOs provide mobile phone services but do not necessarily need to have a licence and all the infrastructure required to run an independent network.

This means Econet will piggy-back its operation on the Orange network which has since expanded extensively in the UK following the merger with T-Mobile. The merged firm is now known as Everything Everywhere.

Meanwhile, Econet which has operations in a number of African countries including Botswana, Burundi, Kenya, Lesotho, Nigeria and Zimbabwe plans to offer cheap call rates to UK customers calling to and from these and other countries.

The company’s managing director, Marco Signorini said: ‘We are excited to be partnering with Everything Everywhere to launch our first UK mobile proposition which fills a real gap in the ethnic African market.

“After considering a number of MVNO partners in the UK, we chose Everything Everywhere for its unrivalled MVNO experience and (the) potential it has for offering an even better network experience for our customers in future.”

Everything Everywhere vice president of wholesale Marc Overton said the Econet model offers “an alternative to traditional calling card and ethnic-orientated mobile businesses on the grounds it exists in its own right in the overseas markets it is to serve”.

“Econet was looking at the opportunity to enter the UK market and we were looking at how we could repackage an existing operator as a vehicle for someone to get to market quickly.

“(Their) inside knowledge, reputation and local understanding can be translated into a winning solution by using the assets and reach of Orange’s network with IDT as a vehicle,” he said.

The company is Zimbabwe’s largest mobile phone services provider and becomes the first foreign operator to enter the UK's MVNO market. It also has a similar arrangement with Cell C in South Africa.

And, apart from the UK, Econet’s other oversees activities include minority interests in operators based in Bolivia, Dominican Republic, and Haiti.

Labels: ECONET WIRELESS ZIMBABWE LTD, MARCO SIGNORINI

posted by MrK @ 4:11 AM