Blyk, the free mobile network for 16-24 year olds funded by advertising has chosen Nokia Siemens Networks to host its core network as it expands into the Netherlands and Belgium. Prepaid charging, messaging systems and device management will also be hosted for those two countries. The hosting service delivered from a central site across several countries sets a new benchmark for the industry.
Under the two turnkey service deals, Nokia Siemens Networks will provide the infrastructure, prepaid charging and messaging systems, software and operations to Blyk as a fully managed, hosted service to Belgium and the Netherlands. The hosting service is delivered remotely from the Nokia Siemens Networks hosting center in Vienna.
We’ve reported on Blyk’s move in to Europe (and indeed Belgium) previously, but often from an Operator partner perspective – this time the spotlight is on the technology partner that is going to make everything work – and that falls to NSN’s very capable hands.
Could we see more variants on the Blyk ‘ad-served’ business model as time goes on? Yes, methinks!
You can read the full press release here.