Blyk

Become an MVNO within 6 weeks, promises Orange

Paul Rasmussen — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:09:50 -0400

As the proposed merger with T-Mobile UK enters some rough water stirred up by the UK Office of Fair Trading worried about competition, Orange UK has unveiled plans for a new revenue stream based around MVNOs. The company has agreed a deal with Transatel--a mobile virtual network aggregator (MVNA), to assist with the launch of multiple MVNOs as quickly and cheaply as possible--all in the space of six weeks.

According to Orange UK's VP of new business wholesale and strategy, Marc Overton, the objective is to increase the company's presence in niches that it does not tap easily with its own brand and service offerings. "Our overarching ambition at Orange is to become the network partner of choice for new and existing MVNOs. This partnership has been driven by market demand, as companies are increasingly realising that offering telecoms services to their customers creates additional profitable growth and increased loyalty."

Overton believes that Transatel--which already operates in France and Belgium--could establish around 20 UK MVNOs a year by persuading SMEs and resellers which already target specialised customer bases to sign-up. An example of this, said Overton, would be MVNOs targeting specific ethnic groups with potential customer numbers between 50,000 and 200,000.

The UK MVNO market has proven successful for some ‘big-brand' firms, such as Tesco and Virgin, but dramatically less so for Blyk and Dot Mobile. The market could become more challenging with rumours that Red Bull is on the verge of launching a pan-European MVNO.

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Rethink Wireless

Blyk subscribers passed over to Orange, signs Vodafone in Netherlands

Paul Rasmussen — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 11:42:17 -0400

The ad-funded MVNO Blyk has finally admitted its business model has failed to succeed and will look to pass its 200,000 UK users over to Orange. Blyk said it will give users of its MVNO service four weeks' notice that the service is terminating and urge them to sign up to an as yet undecided contract with Orange directly.

So far Blyk claims to have run over 500 advertising campaigns, with an average response rate of 29 per cent--a figure significantly higher than average for any kind of mobile advertising, which is typically around six per cent. But Blyk has now accepted that 200,000 customers are not enough to support the costs associated with running an MVNO--given that it has been unable to push the number of users above 200,000.

Ornage UK, which hosted Blyk's MVNO service, is understood to be keen to include an ad-funded mobile proposition as it pushes to become a media business rather than just a mobile operator. It believes offering ad-funded calls and SMS to advertisers can be a valuable element of a cross-platform inventory, which also includes its re-emerging online ad network and portal

Further evidence that Blyk's MVNO model was struggling comes with the announcement that Vodafone in the Netherlands has agreed to offer the ad-funded service, but with Vodafone providing all the mobile infrastructure, and Blyk providing ad serving and ad sales under Vodafone's brand.

For more on this story:
Unthinkable and Telegeography

Orange to become Blyk's first partner

Paul Rasmussen — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:00:04 -0400

Blyk has announced it is about to sign Orange UK as its first partner, the opening step in the company's hastily revised strategy from a direct-to-consumer MVNO model to that of partnering with mainline operators.

The deal will likely see Orange offering a very similar package to that marketed by Blyk whereby subscribers aged 16-24 will be tempted with €20 worth of voice and SMS credit in exchange for receiving brand advertising on their handsets. The two firms already have a strong relationship as Blyk rents its network capacity from Orange.

An interesting twist to this potential partnership is that Blyk's nine-strong sales team will be merging with Orange's sales business. A small Blyk team would remain in the UK to work on signing up further operator partnerships internationally.

Blyk says its MVNO business, which it now claims was little more than a proof of concept, attracted around 200,000 subscribers but failed to gain sufficient interest from advertisers to allow it to continue expanding. The company has also shelved ambitious plans to expand its MVNO model into Belgium and Holland.

The company said talks were ongoing with a variety of partners globally. "We're in negotiations with potential operator partners in the UK and abroad."

For more on this story:
New Media Age

Blyk juggles with future strategy

Paul Rasmussen — Fri, 15 May 2009 13:07:06 -0400

Ad-funded MVNO, Blyk, has raised confusion in the European market following reports, since denied, that it would no longer operate as an MVNO and planned to build its future by partnering with other operators. The company, which managed to generate a high profile with its free cell phone service for 16-24 year-olds willing to receive targeted ads, has already moved away from this model by introducing a monthly credit of £15 which can be used for either text messaging or voice calls.

However, the company has now confirmed it will not open MVNOs in the Netherlands or Belgium--where it has offices--or any other country, and that the UK MVNO was little more than a proof of concept. A spokesman for Blyk stressed the current operation in the UK would continue and there were no plans to close it, but confirmed the company's focus had shifted towards seeking stronger partnerships with mainline operators rather than operating an own-brand service.

Given that analysts claim Blyk has struggled to achieve mass-market appeal, having only attracted around 200,000 users, its move towards operator partnership would appear inevitable following the sharp downturn in advertising. Also, by linking with Orange, Vodafone, etc., the service would become more appealing to advertisers given the potential subscriber base either of these operators could provide. However, Blyk has failed to detail why these operators would want to partner with a service they'd also compete with.

For more on this story:
Telegeography and PrePaid News

Blyk partners with NSN to hasten European expansion

Paul Rasmussen — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 12:25:36 -0400

Having launched its ad-funded MVNO service in the UK more than 12 months ago, Blyk has agreed to a deal with Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) that will see the infrastructure supplier host the Blyk network as it expands into the Netherlands and Belgium.

Under the two turnkey service deals, NSN will provide the infrastructure, prepaid charging and messaging systems, software and operations to Blyk as a fully managed, hosted service to Belgium and the Netherlands. The hosting service is delivered remotely from the NSN hosting centre in Vienna.

Blyk, which uses the Orange network in the UK, and has chosen Vodafone as its Dutch partner and Mobistar in Belgium, has recently confirmed plans to expand its services into Spain and Germany.

Over 200,000 UK customers have signed up to Blyk in its first year, which puts it well ahead of its internal targets, and more than 100 different brands have now run more than 1,000 advertising campaigns. While some observers remain sceptical about the published success of the company, handset vendors and major operators are thought to be keeping a close eye on the ad-funded business model, which in Blyk's case also has the company owning a good portion of its own infrastructure despite being an MVNO.

For more on this story:
- go to telecoms.com and Mobile Europe

Related articles:
Early success for ad-funded mobile network. Blyk story
UK operators cooperate over mobile advertising metrics. Mobile advertising story

Blyk expands further into Europe

Paul Rasmussen — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 06:25:59 -0400

Having already launched its ad-funded mobile service in the U.K. and The Netherlands, the MVNO Blyk has announced it will expand further during 2009 into Germany, Spain and Belgium. The company, which offers a quantity of free calls and texts to teenagers in exchange for sending adverts to their mobile phones, claims over 200 brands will have used the service by the end of this year with an average response rate of nearly 30 per cent. Blyk's CEO and co-founder, Pekka Ala-Pietilä said, "There is a great opportunity for Blyk in these new European markets. Our research shows that young people in Germany, Spain and Belgium are interested in the Blyk proposition because they want to interact with brands they like in exchange for free communication. Our success in the U.K., illustrated by robust member adoption, has proven that Blyk is a youth media that works."

For more on this story:
- go to Cellular News

Related stories:
Early success for ad-funded mobile network. Blyk story
Ad-based mobile carrier Blyk launches. Blyk launch story

Early success for ad-funded mobile network

Thu, 01 May 2008 06:59:55 -0400

Blyk, Europe's first ad-funded mobile network, signed up 100,000 U.K. customers in its first six months of operation. An MVNO utilising the Orange network, Blyk offers free calls and texts to 16 to 24 year-olds willing to receive six targeted advertising texts or pictures every day. The rapid uptake of its service has meant that Blyk reached its first year target in six months.

For more information:
- go to Silicon News and Mobile Europe

Ad-supported MVNO ahead of user target

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 06:59:54 -0400

With over 100,000 signed-up members to its MVNO service, U.K.-based Blyk is claiming to be six months ahead of schedule since it launched in September 2007. The company says that the ad campaigns that fund the service--Blyk gives its customers free texts and minutes every month in return for receiving up to six advertising messages per day--have generated industry leading average response rates approaching 30 per cent.

According to Shaun Gregory, CEO, in the first six months Blyk had built up a deep knowledge of its users which has now exceeded many established youth media players. "Young people have embraced Blyk because it makes phone bills and contracts a thing of the past. We believe that communication should be free, like most other forms of media in the U.K." Blyk plans to launch in the Netherlands in the second half of 2008 followed by other European markets and has recently attracted new investors Goldman Sachs and Industrial and Financial Investments Company.

For more on this story:
- read Cellular News

Related stories:
Ad-supported MVNO Blyk premieres in UK. Blyk article
Ex-Nokia president launching ad-funded MVNO. Blyk article

Blyk struggles to gain an audience

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:59:56 -0500

Having been applauded at launch for its innovative idea of an ad-supported MVNO, Blyk is coming under increasing scrutiny by potential advertisers as the company fails to attract the anticipated user base. Given that media buyers think in terms of millions when it comes to new (digital) media, the 30,000 reported Blyk users must look somewhat slim--although the company insists that it's on target to hit 100,000 by this September. However, critics are pointing to the issue of the SIM-free handsets that Blyk sells. These units cost anywhere from €50 up to €370--the kiss of death for the average Blyk target audience of 16-24 years who generally expect a free, subsidised handset. There are also rumours that kids are buying into Blyk but then turning off the advertising messages which they are supposed to opt into. Certainly, every move that Blyk makes is being closely followed by existing mobile operators. The thought is that, if the ad-supported model works, then the larger operators will quickly steal the concept and offer the same deal to their own customers.

For more on this story:
- read NewMediaAge and Techcrunch

Mobile ads really clicking, claims Blyk

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 06:00:00 -0500

While the launch of ad-funded MVNO Blyk was greeted with scorn by many within the telecoms industry, the company is claiming record click-through statistics after only two months of operation.

Given that Blyk has specifically targeted university students with its offer of free calls in return for receiving mobile advertising, then a high click rate is to be expected. However, the company is claiming up to 43 percent of its customers are clicking on ads, as against Vodafone's mobile Internet reporting a click-through rate of 3.5 percent, and PC Internet being just 0.5 per cent.

According to Blyk's UK sales director, Jonathan McDonald, it's simple logic: "We have a database of 100 percent opted-in people who have signed up knowing they will receive up to six advertisements a day. The advertisements are specifically targeted to their preferences, which they have stated in advance."

McDonald maintains that industry comments suggesting that rates would fall as the novelty for users wears off is overstated. "People who have written that have missed the major point; that every day our service is becoming more profiled to the user, so as it becomes more relevant to them, click through rates will go up."

For more on this:
- read Mobile News