Virgin Mobile Middle East and Africa (VMMEA) has today started offering MVNO services in Saudi Arabia. VNMEA, which was set up in June 2012 in partnership with Middle Eastern MVNO Friendi Group, is launching two brands on the Saudi market: Virgin…
Virgin Mobile Middle East and Africa (VMMEA) has today started offering MVNO services in Saudi Arabia.
VNMEA, which was set up in June 2012 in partnership with Middle Eastern MVNO Friendi Group, is launching two brands on the Saudi market: Virgin Mobile, targeting young people, and Friendi Mobile, which is aimed at expatriate workers.
VNMEA, which was awarded the MVNO licence in March 2014, is benefiting from the Saudi regulator’s decision to request that the country’s three mobile operators –Saudi Telecom (STC), Mobily and Zain KSA – host an MVNO in a bid to boost competition.
While VMMEA partnered with the kingdom’s largest carrier, STC, rival Jawraa Lebara will operate on Mobily’s network. Dubai’s Axiom Telecom had teamed up with Zain for the launch of MVNO services, but in April the regulator reportedly ordered the licence to be retendered.
Saudi Arabia is the second Gulf country to allow MVNOs after Oman, which granted a licence to Virgin Mobile in 2009.
VMMEA’s main shareholders include the Gulf Investment Corporation (GIC), which made a US$50m in the MVNO in March last year, and the Virgin Group. The company, which also operates in Oman, Jordan, South Africa and Malaysia, believes that the introduction of MVNOs in Saudi Arabia will spur mobile operators and telecom regulators across the region to accelerate plans to introduce the MVNO model in their own markets.