Mobile Network Comparison

If you haven’t already seen it, check out the first part of our interview with Zevvle, a new network hoping to shake up the MVNO market.

We’re back with their co-founder, the creative wacky Nick Goodall, chat a bit more about the new network.

Hi again Nick. It’s clear that being transparent and running a pay-for-only-what-you-use model is important to you, but are other MVNOs offering better value on their monthly bundles? How can they afford this and why is your offering superior?

The ‘better value’ depends where you’re standing. 10GB for £12 is great if you use 10GB. But that’s rarely the case; according to Citizens Advice, over 12 million SIM only customers are wasting an average of £63/year on unused contracts, totaling £800m/year. That incentive alignment is messed up as well – the more you waste, the better for them.

So what’s the uptake been like so far? What are your growth plans and forecasts?

Better than planned to be honest; we’re aiming for 10% week-on-week growth, but have done 12% since launch.

Where did the share idea come from and how successful has it been? Or was it just a cheap/bootstrap way of incentivising customer acquisition?

It was Tim’s idea, and I was immediately hooked. All our growth so far is word of mouth, and it’s not like we have 100’s of thousands of people waiting (our share price is hardly anything to write home about).

And quite the opposite of something cheap; we hope it’ll become one of the more valuable referral programs around. Considering the fervor with which founders hold onto their stock, it’s nice to do something different. A free £5 bonus or whatever is fleeting, whereas a part of Zevvle isn’t.

Why in particular did you choose to work with EE in the UK?

Mostly because of our direct supplier, Transatel (an MVNE behind Plusnet, The Phone Co-op and China Telecom), who met our requirements for launching. Having the fastest network with the best coverage (on average) is a bonus.

What was the reasoning behind the subscription model?

To cover the cost of the SIM + multiple SIMs. We’ve now decided to field the cost of the first SIM and then charge a fixed rate for additional SIMs.

Can you explain more about the decision to use a post-pay system?

If you mean post-pay on the backend, it comes down to a) cost and b) ease of setup. We were able to launch relatively cheaply & quickly, whereas the traditional pre-pay model is a lot more involved.

Why do you think so many people are stuck on expensive PAYG plans when there are so many cheap alternatives available now? What’s the main thing holding people back from switching?

How many are still using true PAYG I don’t know, as most of them seem to offer “bolt-ons” effectively turning them into PAYM. If you use your phone once every 3 months, PAYG is still great, but with our £5/month minimum we don’t really cater for that use-case…

Why are calls and texts still so expensive in 2019 and is there any scope for movement on your pricing especially in the future if wholesale data pricing finally comes down?

Re. being expensive, it’s because they still use the old technology, instead of the internet. It’s slowly starting to change, but with money on the line there’s understandably inertia. Yes, hopefully our pricing will come down and we can pass that saving onto customers. The eventual goal is to make it all internet-based anyway, and maybe even bridge into something like Matrix.

Finally, where do you see the network in five years?

Our rough plan is 1) launch & grow, 2) connect directly to a network host, 3) expand internationally and 4) become one of the first networks on Mars. In 5 years I hope we’ll be somewhere around # 3.

Thanks Nick for spending the time with us and please let us know in the comments below what you think about Zevvle.

Continue Reading

If you haven’t already seen it, check out the first part of our interview with tello, a new network hoping to shake up the MVNO market.

How much do you know about the ecosystem of the UK mobile phone market? What lessons do you feel will be most useful from your experience in overseas markets and how would you characterise your particular approach over here?

Since our experience in the telecom field is pretty vast, a big part of our database consists of UK customers. We already conducted several market surveys in order to expand our understanding and approach over the UK. Plus, we constantly work to apply our existing knowledge and experience in the complex MVNO market from the UK.

So why in particularly did you choose to work with Hutchison-Whampoa in the UK?

Our criteria for selecting a partner were pretty simple. We were looking for a flexible and reliable partner. We chose Three Mobile because they offer a great quality service at a very competitive pricing. Plus another aspect that played a significant role when selecting the network was their data speed, because we care about future trends and customer needs.

Why do you think so many people are stuck on expensive PAYG plans when there are so many cheap alternatives available now? What’s the main thing holding people back from switching?

The answer to your question lies in the human psychology area and I think can be summed up in a few simple but powerful words like: loyalty, ease of use, convenience.

What matters: price over quality? Why do people choose a more expensive provider when they can switch to a new cheaper one? We think customers are the key, they lead the way, their behavior leads providers to new products, services and ways to do and conduct business. What is 100% true is that a happy customer is a loyal customer.

So the word “stuck” can actually be easily replaced with “happy”.

Still, we think more and more people would be eager to try something new if they’d realize the savings on the long run, or if they’d know that portability is risk-free and it is backed up by OFCOM.

That’s a good way of looking at it! And human psychology is definitely a big part. But where do you see the network in five years?

Our five-year plan definitely revolves around the word: international expansion. By the end of this year, we’ll launch tello on the US market so our focus and attention is channeled towards this project.

Thanks for your time, Silvana and good luck with the new venture!

Continue Reading

tello is the latest newcomer to the MVNO party in the UK having launched at the end of October last year. It’s formed through a partnership between KeepCalling and x‑Mobility.

KeepCalling is a US telecoms company with offices in Romania and Bolivia. It started off small back in 2002 reselling phone cards before expanding into monthly mobile plans and international virtual numbers. It now runs over 70 websites turns over about £30 million in yearly profits.

x‑Mobility is a Mobile Virtual Network Aggregator. Basically, what this means is it acts as an intermediary between Three Mobile and the various virtual networks than run on its service.

We got together with their Managing Director, Silvana Tatu to ask a few questions about the new network.

Hi Silvana, thanks for chatting with us. First of all can you explain a little more about the genesis of the company and the ideas behind it?

tello is a brand designed by KeepCalling, a telecom company based in the US, Atlanta who’s been in the telecom business since 2002. From the beginning, KeepCalling’s mission has been to bring family and friends closer together and offer them affordable means of communication.

In 2014, KeepCalling created tello having the same goal in mind: offer a clean, high quality mobile service for UK users with a fair and simple billing mechanism. And top of that, tello was designed as a solution to cover long distance calling needs for expats in the UK, businessmen, or any other person living in the UK who needs a SIM to call abroad, make local calls and surf the web.

And can you tell us a bit about the management team and their background?

KeepCalling’s management team is represented by a group of young and ambitious specialists who gathered a wide experience in the telecom market. The knowledge acquired while doing business in the US for the past 13 years was a very useful prerequisite when deciding to expand our business to the UK.

You seem to have a good understanding of the international/expat market. How are you positioning your offerings to suit these customers best and how true is it that you’re a specialist network for international mobile use?

It’s true that we cater our services and offers to meet our customers’ needs. What’s unique about us and what differentiates us from others is that we really put our customers, their traditions, their culture and language first. Customers can read, visit and buy our products from our websites in their native language. They see familiar images from their homeland, they receive customized emails based on their culture. Basically, their entire online experience from an ad they see on Google, to ordering a product on our website is customized to match their cultural background.

As far as being “a specialist network for international mobile use”, we are honored. It’s true that we have a lot of experience and that we know our customers, so I guess we could say we’re a specialist in this field.

Could you describe the brand in three words?

Friendly, fair, responsive.

Great! But who do you see as your closest competitor?

Our services are addressed to both UK citizens & expats, therefore we have a lot of competition. The UK MVNO market especially is a very competitive one, with many operators offering great deals on international and national calls, text and data. Basically, all UK current providers can be considered our competitors.

So having said that and with our common understanding that the MVNO market is incredibly saturated and competitive, what’s your one USP?

It’s true, as I mentioned before, the UK market is a very competitive one, but competition is good. It pushes your limits and makes you better than you can ever imagined.

Our USP would be “Say hello with your new tello SIM: clean, fair, no hidden fees or overcharges”

What’s the uptake been like so far? What are your growth plans and forecasts?

Even if tello is a new MVNO on the UK market, our online presence is getting stronger and stronger with every day that passes. We are currently analyzing different possibilities to expand our marketing strategy and grow our business.

Stay tuned for the second part of our Tello interview with Silvana coming next Monday…

Continue Reading