India's RCom Trying to Build an International MVNO Network

India's Reliance Communications (RCom) is reported to be planning a global MVNO platform which could create a "single network" spanning 57 countries. The Economic Times reported that the company has already set up a team of staff to investigate the proposal.

"An in-house team of traffic analysts at RCom is working on various models to enter into bulk airtime offtake agreements at suitable time and terms," industry sources told the newspaper.

The company is understood to have already started talks with several potential operators to rent capacity from their networks. An initial launch would be a basic international roaming SIM card, as currently offered by several other companies, but should expand into a full MVNO platform over time.

Late last week, Reliance Globalcom (a subsidiary of RCom) took a majority stake in a UK base firm which is trying to build up a global footprint for a WiMAX network. It is not a huge leap to leverage the same local business contacts to also secure agreements with GSM operators for a separate mobile MVNO platform as well.

"RCom is evaluating opportunities to expand this portfolio to more countries where MVNO-based services can be offered. Alliance with more than two operators in a country cannot be ruled out," sources familiar with the development said. "The company is developing and testing various value-added services to target overseas customers. It is looking at users with a preference for Ethnic Asian content, specific utility driven mobile-based applications and those with high international calling spends," said sources.

On the web: Economic Times

Posted to the site on 29th April 2008