The Dutch virtual operators grew by 1.3 percent in the six months to September to 6.9 million customers, good for a 33.5 percent share of the mobile market, according to the latest research from Telecompaper. That includes both independent MVNOs and virtual second brands at the network operators.
Revenues for the virtual operators totaled EUR 214 million in Q3 2018, of which 41 percent was generated by the independent MVNOs. Revenues were up slightly from six months earlier, mainly due to growth in the MVNO segment, the Telecompaper Dutch Mobile Virtual Operators Market Q3 2018 report found.
Top 5 VOs increase share
The market is roughly equally divided between the MVNOs and second brands. In the six months to September, the MVNOs added 22,000 new Sims, compared to 67,000 added at the second brands. All the top operator brands - Telfort, Hollandsnieuwe, Ben, Simyo, Telfort zakelijk and Yes telecom - showed growth. Among MVNOs, mainly Simpel and Youfone were growing, while other providers such as Lebara and Vectone lost customers.
The ten largest VOs remains the same as in Q1 2018. Telfort is market leader based on number of Sims, followed by Lebara, Lycamobile, Simpel and Hollandsnieuwe. The top five together account for 63.4 percent of the virtual mobile Sims, up from 62.2 percent at the end of March, mainly due to growth at Simpel and to a lesser extent Lycamobile.
No-frills biggest market segment
The ‘no-frills’ segment, offering basic services at relatively low cost, remains the biggest part of the Dutch VO market and increased its share by 3 percent to 57 percent in Q3. All the players in this segment added customers during the six-month period and especially Simpel.
The ethnic/international segment comes second, led by Lebara. This segment is contracting but was still good for just over a quarter of the market in Q3 2018. The business segment followed with around 10 percent, followed by the retail and fixed players and the community segment as smallest.
39 active VOs, 3 exits, 1 new entry
The Dutch VO market counts in total 39 players, of which the majority are independent MVNOs. Compared to the first quarter of 2018, the market lost three providers and one new player joined. The newcomer is cable operator Delta, which in August started selling its own mobile plans, with extra discounts for existing fixed customers. It uses the T-Mobile network.
The departures included international calls specialist Vectone, which ended services in July; Emobiel, which offered a filtered internet service for the Protestant community and switched to a reseller agreement with Vodafone; and SOS mobiel, a TrendCall brand which stopped servicing customers during the summer after earlier halting sales.
Telecompaper expects further consolidation in the market, as it becomes increasingly difficult for the many smaller players to hold ground. The intense competition, price pressure, regulatory effects and changing consumer behaviour are felt also by the virtual players, many of which struggle to gain the necessary critical mass in a saturated market. The continued shift from prepaid to postpaid, less interest from network operators in hosting MVNOs and the trend to bundle mobile with fixed services also plays against the virtual market. The merger of T-Mobile and Tele2 in 2019 may bring renewed interest in the wholesale market, but the company will likely be focused on integrating its own retail business to start.
