Virgin Mobile has setup a new MVNO in Qatar via a partnership with Qtel. The news, however, doesn’t stop there. The Richard Branson-led empire is further exploring ways to expand to other countries where Qtel operates. Here’s what Branson had to say about it: “We’re in discussions about doing a similar relationship with them [Qtel] in a lot of other countries they are set up in.”
The move comes three years after Virgin Mobile lost out to Vodafone in the race to acquire Qatar’s second mobile license. However, Branson played down suggestions that they are looking at other license acquisitions in the Middle East. He said: “For us to set up our own network, the economics just wouldn’t make sense whereas piggy backing on their [Qtel] network using the Virgin’s brand and marketing skills works well.”
No specific markets were named, but we know Qtel has a footprint in 17 countries, Indonesia included. Virgin Mobile on its end operates in the UK, Australia, USA, Canada, France, South Africa and India.
Finally, it’s interesting to add that Virgin Mobile Qatar will be the Gulf state’s first youth-focused mobile operator, offering a simple all-day tariff and the super long-lasting 180-day airtime top-ups.
[Via: MobileBusinessBriefing]