MVNOs Battle Each Other

from the one-way-to-do-things... dept

While the major mobile operators seem to be consolidating around the world, new competition is coming in the form of MVNOs, who simply rent space on the networks of existing providers. While there should be some concern that the network providers are competing with their own partners, for now it seems that people believe that MVNOs and regular operators are competing on different levels. What's amusing, however, is how some of those MVNOs are competing. Over in the UK, with the launch of easyMobile, MVNO king Virgin Mobile is taking potshots at their new competitor, releasing a bunch of press releases trashing them. easyMobile has fought back with the press release equivalent of "what are ya.... chicken?" Of course, if the whole point behind MVNOs was to find unexploited niche markets, shouldn't these firms be focused on finding those markets, providing things for customers that others don't, and building a business? Instead, the fact that they're wasting their marketing dollars sniping at each other might make you wonder if the MVNO market is all its cracked up to be. It does seem like there should be room for MVNOs out there, but let's see them offer things that subscribers want already, rather than explaining why their competitors suck.