The number of customers at Dutch MVNOs rose to 3.05 million at the end of March, from 2.52 million a year earlier, according to Telecompaper's semi-annual review of the MVNO market. Compared with September 2006, the number of customers using MVNOs increased by 13.1 percent. In total, MVNOs and resellers account for 16.8 percent of the SIMs in the Dutch market. In March 2007, over 50 virtual operators were active on the Dutch market, with new arrivals in the last six months including Rabo Mobiel, Ay Yildiz, Lycamobile, IDT Mobile, Erdee Mobile, Multikabel and Hurriyet. The market also witnessed a number of exits in 2006. Over the next 12 months, Telecompaper expects the number of VOs to stabilise, with the number of newcomers offset by consolidation and VOs leaving the market. Furthermore, new MVNEs and a more aggressive attitude from Vodafone to win its fair share in the Dutch market are expected to give existing and new MVNOs more options to choose their network partners. This will also put pressure on the wholesale price a mobile network operator can ask MVNE/MVNOs, said Wilma Bekx, research manager and senior analyst at Telecompaper.
Market leaders debitel and Tele2 showed a decline in market share versus both six months and a year ago. Meanwhile, a number of newcomers continue to do well in the market, including Lebara Mobile, Ortel Mobile and Lycamobile. With slightly less than 1 million customers, debitel is by far the largest player in the Dutch VO market. Tele2 Mobiel is the second largest, with an estimated 589,000 customers at the end of March, up from 535,000 customers from a year ago. Lebara is the third largest VO, followed by Ortel Mobile. AH Mobiel moved down in the rankings to become the fifth-largest VO, with 195,000 customers at the end of March 2007, up from 160,000 customers a year earlier.
A large group of small VOs accounted for 3.6 percent of the market at the end of March 2007. This group includes such operators as ACN, Amatus, Ay Yildiz, Baron, Call4Care, Carey Mobiel, Chippie, Scarlet, Intercity Mobile Communications, Dekatel Telecom, Versatel, Multikabel, LowCall, Telefoon Totaal,Tommy telecom,TrendCall, Yes Telecom and Yiggers.
