Krasnodar, 17 July – Yug Times. Real mobile operators develop their subscriber bases through mediation of virtual network operators.

Over the past two years, three new mobile operators have appeared at the regional telecommunications market: Tinkoff Mobile, TTC Mobile, and Danycom. Mobile. They have much in common – for they are all referred to the category of mobile virtual network operators (MVNO), that is they are legally independent wireless communications services providers that do not own the wireless network infrastructure but build their business on another operator’s network infrastructure. More precisely, that ‘another operator’ is Tele2.

Virgin Mobile based on One2One network was the first MVNO in the world that appeared in the UK in 1999. Since then, this has become a routine phenomenon. Presently, there are over 500 MVNOs operating in Europe.

In Russia, the practice is not so widely spread. In the Kuban region, the first MVNO appeared in 2017: it was TTC Mobile (a branch of Transtelecom). Very soon Danycom.Mobile followed the trend. Tinkoff Mobile came in 2018.

Practically all (except for Yota) virtual network operators are based on Tele2’s network. The company did not disclose the number of its MVNO customers in the Kuban region.

As for the trends, Telecom Daily CEO Denis Kuskov was quoted as saying that the virtual network operators working in the Kuban region may reach a 2% share of the total cellular communications penetration level. Taking that the population of Krasnodar province is 5.22 million, it would mean that the virtual network operators should have at least 210,000 subscribers. The situation may change soon, when the fifth MVNO operator – SberMobile – comes to the region. Sberbank is already offering subscription to this network at its numerous offices.

Altogether in Russia, virtual network operators account for about 4% of the cellular communications market, while in Europe their penetration level varies between 10% and 40%.


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