Used x-Mobility system that anyone can use to launch a mobile service
Software developer X-Mobility claims it has created an app that makes it so easy to create a mobile network that all brands could become virtual network operators (VNOs). It could allow everyone with a huge fan base, from media groups to Man United, to attract fans onto their own mobile brand.
This week Kenyan media group NRG Radio used it to launch BeMobile, a digital MVNO that creates a network subscribers can access without needing an extra SIM card in their phone.
Aimed at young African smartphone users, BeMobile aims to seduce them with extras such as calls, messages and multiple new number profiles. It adds international number IDSs onto their existing handset, plus free calls to friends and family at home or abroad.
Enabled by X-Mobility
UK-based X-Mobility provides all the backend technology for what it calls its AppVNO service. A technology partner of Three UK and creater of revenue management systems, X-Mobility said it aims to offer the virtual network operation service to brands, fixed line operators and anyone else wishing to become a mobile network operator.
Brands can offer their subscribers a SIM-less telco mobile experience through a telco app, it said in a release.
“BeMobile will break the stereotypes of mobile and create an iconic youth brand across Africa,” said Kevin Mulei, group MD of NRG Media. “Youth is the market to win. We will do this partly thanks to the bold and inspiring spirit x-Mobility brings to telecoms.”
Could disrupt beyond the African market
The BeMobile service will be a disruptive mobile brand for Africa, said Shanks Kulam, co-founder of x-Mobility.
“We are having more and more discussions about digital MVNO services with media companies and brands, in Africa and beyond,” said Kulam. Any brand with a big following and a digital offering that can go global can create a digital MVNO to deepen their existing customer relationships and open new geographic markets.