Orange Announces Lycamobile as New MVNO
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Paris, September 22, 2008
· Total Wholesale customer base on Orange UK network reaches nearly 2.8 million*.
· Orange’s sixth MVNO - third signed in last 12 months
Orange today announced the introduction of Lycamobile, the sixth Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) to run over the Orange UK network.
Lycamobile designed to target UK based ethnic markets, follows five other Wholesale successes from Orange: GlobalCell, Blyk, IDT, H3G national roaming and most recently Cable&Wireless’ new FMC service. This brings the total Wholesale customer base on the Orange UK network to nearly 2.8 million*.
It follows the launch of Orange’s new strategy and the creation of the new business, wholesale and strategy team, led by Marc Overton, which has been set up to explore additional MVNO opportunities and other new business streams that could compliment the Orange brand.
Marc Overton, Vice President of New Business, Wholesale and Strategy at Orange UK, said: “We are delighted to confirm that Lycamobile will become an Orange MVNO partner for the launch of their new service. Orange has very ambitious plans to grow and evolve into new and exciting areas and the deal with Lycamobile, the sixth MVNO to sign up with Orange and the third this year alone, represents just that.
“In an economically challenging time, companies have realised that offering telecoms services to their customers creates additional profitable growth and increased loyalty. Partnering with MVNOs such as Lycamobile not only demonstrates our desire to become the network partner of choice for new and existing MVNOs but also extends the Orange reach to much broader segments of the marketplace.”
“With the largest integrated mobile data network of all the operators, our network is certainly one of our greatest assets and will receive continued investment to maintain it as the best network in the UK."
Rob Beswick, Marketing Director, at Lycamobile also commented:
“We are delighted to announce the launch of the Lycamobile brand in our seventh market. Lycamobile will be a benchmark MVNO not only in the UK but also globally. To achieve that, we will provide best value to our customers, delivering high quality as well as low-cost. We are delighted to work with Orange as a UK network partner. The senior level sponsorship from Orange, along with the technical and commercial offering enables us to deliver our customer promise of the best mobile rates and quality. We remain on course to achieve our mission of becoming the global market leading international MVNO acquiring seven million subscribers over five years.”
Notes to Editors
* Approximate MVNO subscriber numbers on Orange UK network in August. These are not included in Orange UK’s published subscriber figures. For reference, the combined number of mobile users (Orange UK mobile customers + Orange MVNO customers) using the Orange UK network is18.6million mobile
** UK Mobile Network facts
· currently reaches: over 94% 3G population coverage and over 50% 3G+ population coverage.
· Orange is working towards its 3G/HSDPA network speed targets of up to 7.2Mbps in the top 30 UK cities; 2Mbps for 80% of entire UK population and will start rolling out a 14.4Mbps by the end of 2009
· Orange invests over £1million every working day to develop the network
· Orange will be installing over 450 new 2G and 3G sites over the next 12 months to ensure customers can make calls, send texts and access mobile broadband
· Orange’s sixth MVNO - third signed in last 12 months
Orange today announced the introduction of Lycamobile, the sixth Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) to run over the Orange UK network.
Lycamobile designed to target UK based ethnic markets, follows five other Wholesale successes from Orange: GlobalCell, Blyk, IDT, H3G national roaming and most recently Cable&Wireless’ new FMC service. This brings the total Wholesale customer base on the Orange UK network to nearly 2.8 million*.
It follows the launch of Orange’s new strategy and the creation of the new business, wholesale and strategy team, led by Marc Overton, which has been set up to explore additional MVNO opportunities and other new business streams that could compliment the Orange brand.
Marc Overton, Vice President of New Business, Wholesale and Strategy at Orange UK, said: “We are delighted to confirm that Lycamobile will become an Orange MVNO partner for the launch of their new service. Orange has very ambitious plans to grow and evolve into new and exciting areas and the deal with Lycamobile, the sixth MVNO to sign up with Orange and the third this year alone, represents just that.
“In an economically challenging time, companies have realised that offering telecoms services to their customers creates additional profitable growth and increased loyalty. Partnering with MVNOs such as Lycamobile not only demonstrates our desire to become the network partner of choice for new and existing MVNOs but also extends the Orange reach to much broader segments of the marketplace.”
“With the largest integrated mobile data network of all the operators, our network is certainly one of our greatest assets and will receive continued investment to maintain it as the best network in the UK."
Rob Beswick, Marketing Director, at Lycamobile also commented:
“We are delighted to announce the launch of the Lycamobile brand in our seventh market. Lycamobile will be a benchmark MVNO not only in the UK but also globally. To achieve that, we will provide best value to our customers, delivering high quality as well as low-cost. We are delighted to work with Orange as a UK network partner. The senior level sponsorship from Orange, along with the technical and commercial offering enables us to deliver our customer promise of the best mobile rates and quality. We remain on course to achieve our mission of becoming the global market leading international MVNO acquiring seven million subscribers over five years.”
Notes to Editors
* Approximate MVNO subscriber numbers on Orange UK network in August. These are not included in Orange UK’s published subscriber figures. For reference, the combined number of mobile users (Orange UK mobile customers + Orange MVNO customers) using the Orange UK network is18.6million mobile
** UK Mobile Network facts
· currently reaches: over 94% 3G population coverage and over 50% 3G+ population coverage.
· Orange is working towards its 3G/HSDPA network speed targets of up to 7.2Mbps in the top 30 UK cities; 2Mbps for 80% of entire UK population and will start rolling out a 14.4Mbps by the end of 2009
· Orange invests over £1million every working day to develop the network
· Orange will be installing over 450 new 2G and 3G sites over the next 12 months to ensure customers can make calls, send texts and access mobile broadband
For more information contact
Orange UK Press Office
t:0870 373 1500
e: orangepr@golinharris.com
t:0870 373 1500
e: orangepr@golinharris.com
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