【观察】聚焦虚商：挑战市场（三）

 

Transatel的老板Jacques Bonifay认为，提供4G服务方面的问题很重要。移动虚拟网络提供商（MVNE）去年向市场上推出了使用EE网络的邮政虚商，但被推迟了。邮政移动的头儿Geoffrey Smythe告诉Mobile，之所以会推迟是因为要等4G的推出。Bonifay将此归咎于网络。

 

他说；“不久之前，4G进入市场。2-3年以前，我们以为Transatel能够接入4G网，然而这最近才实现。移动运营商会对4G收更高的费用，但对我们来讲是不合逻辑的。技术的发展使其获得了更高速的宽带并使终端用户可以拥有更多字节。如果将字节以与3G和4G相同的价格定价，运营商的ARPU值就会相对更高，所以我不理解为啥我们要支付其中的溢价部分，这即使是从产业观点来看也是讲不通的。”

 

Bonifay认为英国虚商市场的生意是很难做的，不明白英国的通信管理局为什么不采取更为强硬的措施。“一段时间以前，英国市场上有更多的运营商，但因为生意太难做，虚商最大的供应商就是最大的竞争对手。EE和3（Three)都是虚商领域的大运营商，O2在这个市场上暂未显露，而沃达丰则是略有退步。”

 

“我真地很惊讶为啥英国监管机构不正视这些，他们立着一块儿很远。他们不问一些实质性问题，也不看这个市场是如何演变的。如果将英国和法国作对比，法国监管机构一直在不断地问问题，而英国监管机构只是在远处远远地看着，完全是不同的处理方式。”

 

 

Transatel是来自美国的一家通信公司。在新经济环境的支持下，Transatel很好的证明了一个公司的创新与发展。Transatel现在已是欧洲移动服务市场的重要参与者。

 

 

TransferTo向Mobile介绍到，虚商已经宣布了移动金融市场的重大利润，然而这已经被英国网络所抛弃。首席执行官Eric Barbier解释，汇款平台与英国虚商例如Lebara一起给用户提供一个简单途径使用预付费空中通话，以及移动金融市场。尽管说这个市场是有利可图的，Barbier认为传统网络运营商更应该稍退一步，将市场留给虚商。

 

英国的运营商已经将市场留给虚商了，据Barbier理解，在这方面他们是不具有竞争力的，并且能看到在西欧的一些市场，他们更愿意让虚商做。如果你真想进入汇款平台，要么有海外办公室，要么就和我们合作。电信运营商真地已经开始提供移动金融服务，并且正变得越来越重要，所以他们现在产生的收入和利润是非常庞大的。

 

Barbier说，“在英国，我们和Lebara合作，因为他们是针对市场这部分的。我们已经为其带来了通过其他途径不可能得到的收入和交易。”

 

 

另一个方面就是移动支付。这在很大程度上是硬件制造商的重点，例如Apple Pay和Samsung Pay和Android Pay。支付平台Gemalto提供多项服务帮助移动运营商和虚商进入该领域。据英国和爱尔兰的高级总裁Howard Berg说，后者正在采取“等等看”的方法来开始移动支付。

 

虚商是重要客户，但他们目前仍在观察市场，观望它将如何发展。我们提供值得信任的服务中心以及一个虚拟云使虚商更容易与英国的主要银行对接。

 

每家虚商都有其自己的市场定位，而且因为移动支付是开创性的，并没有很多虚商愿意做这方面。维珍传媒（Virgin Media）正在打开市场，他的策略就是如何开拓更广阔的市场。对于大部分虚商来说，要研究如何使支付方式适应他们的策略。现在还没有很多来自移动运营商和虚商的支付，现在主要是一些制造商也是目前的动力所在。

 

这方面的危险是消费者容易困惑不大好理解,所以很多虚商在考虑客户优先级,实际上理解才是目前最大的问题。支付目前可能是问题，但更重要的是使用苹果和安卓支付作为免费试验,看看会发生什么。

 

 

金雅拓公司(Gemalto，泛欧证券交易所股票代码:NL0000400653 GTO)于2006年6月由全球最大的两家智能卡厂商Axalto(雅斯拓)和Gemplus(金普斯)合并成立。 是数字安全领域的全球领先企业，2008年营业收入达16.8亿欧元，在40个国家设有75家办事处、研究中心和服务中心，员工总数达10,000人。金雅拓为数字领域的应用提供安全的设备、软件和服务。

 

No 4G for me?

 

For Transatel boss Jacques Bonifay, the problem lies in providing 4G services. The MVNE recently launched the Post Office MVNO into the market on EE last year, but this was delayed. Post Office head of mobile Geoffrey Smythe tells Mobile that the delay came from having to wait for 4G, something that Bonifay blames on the network.

 

‘4G came into the market a while back,’ he says. ‘We imagined Transatel would have 4G access two to three years ago it was just a recent addition. The typical position from the MNO is to charge more for 4G and to me that is not logical. The technology allows higher bandwidth and enables the end user to do more megabytes. If you price the megabytes at the same price as 3G and 4G, then by definition the ARPU for the operator will be higher, so I don’t understand why we should pay a premium, as from an industrial standpoint it doesn’t make sense.’

 

 

Bonifay describes the UK MVNO space as one where business is difficult, expressing surprise that a tougher stance is not taken by UK regulator Ofcom. ‘Some time ago there were more players in the UK market’, he says, ‘but business is difficult, the MVNO business is difficult, your biggest supplier is your biggest competitor. EE and Three are big players in the MVNO space, O2 is not very visible in the market and Vodafone has stepped back a little.

 

‘I’m surprised that the UK regulator doesn’t look at it; they are very much on the off side. They don’t really ask questions or look at how the market is evolving. If I compare theUK and France, the French regulators keep on asking questions and the UK regulators look at things from further away, but it’s a different way to do things.’

 

Making the most of money

 

MVNOs have laid claim to the ‘significant’ profits of the mobile money market, one which has largely been abandoned by UK networks, TransferTo has told Mobile. CEO Eric Barbier explains that the remittance platform works with UK MVNOs such as Lebara to give them a simple route into the prepaid airtime and mobile money market. Despite describing the market as lucrative, Barbier believes that networks have preferred to take a step back, leaving the market to MVNOs.

 

Operators in the UK have given this market to the MVNOs. As far as I understand they are not being aggressive in this segment and we have seen this in a few markets in Europe where they prefer to have MVNOs to target this segment. If you really want to go into the remittance space, either you have offices abroad or you work with us. Telcos have really embraced mobile financial services and it is becoming more and more important, so the revenues and profits they are making are becoming significant.

 

‘In the UK we work with Lebara because it is targeting this segment of the market. We are bringing it revenues and transactions from countries it could not otherwise get.’

 

Moving into payments

 

On the other side of the spectrum are mobile payments. This has largely been the focus of hardware manufacturers, with Apple Pay and the anticipated launch of Samsung Pay and Android Pay. Payments platform Gemalto provides a number of services to help both MNOs and MVNOs move into this space. According to Howard Berg, senior VP of UK & Ireland, the latter has taken a ‘wait and see’ approach to mobile payments.

 

‘MVNOs are key customers but they are looking at the market and waiting to see how it develops. We provide trusted services hub and a virtual cloud to make it easier for MVNOs to connect to major UK banks.

 

‘Each MVNO has its own market position, and while mobile payments is a great initiative, it’s not high up on many wish lists. Virgin Media is attacking the business market and its strategy on everything depends on its strategy to the wider market. For a lot of MVNOs it’s about findings how payments fit into their strategy, There haven’t been a lot of payments from MNOs or MVNOs, it’s all about manufacturers and that’s where the momentum is at the moment.

 

‘The danger is the confusion overload to the consumer, so a lot of MVNOs in particular are thinking about customer priorities and saying that actually connectivity is the biggest issue at the moment. Payments are probably on that list but a lot are using Apple Pay and Android Pay almost as a free trial to see what happens.’