Southern Europe Awakens To Mobile Virtual Network Operators

Western Europe has seen an explosion in the number of mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) since their first emergence more than eight years ago, but it's only in the past 12 months that the hype has shifted to the Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese mobile markets, which had lagged behind. New MVNOs in these markets should beware: Market conditions here are fundamentally different to the favorable circumstances under which several widely known MVNOs thrived and that attracted the attention of nontelco companies. It is crucial that you also learn from multiple — less illustrious — failures in Western Europe. Forrester expects this will fail to dampen enthusiasm and therefore warns that the increased competition will provide only limited, short-term opportunities for a few players in markets that are already saturated.