Lycamobile buys Ortel, moves to Telenet network

News Wireless Belgium 10 FEB 2017 Updated: 13 FEB 2017
Lycamobile buys Ortel, moves to Telenet network
Telenet announced that Lycamobile Belgium is moving to its mobile network. In addition Telenet is selling the Ortel MVNO to Lycamobile. Together the two MVNOS have around 1 million customers in Belgium, and both focus on the international calls market. 

Lycamobile has been on the Orange network since it launched in Belgium in 2007. Orange said in a statement that the contract was due to expire in March, and the companies agreed to extend it for six months until September, to give Lycamobile time to migrate its customers to the new network. Orange noted that it had already revamped its prepaid offer to target better the migrant market and it did not expect any impact on its financial outlook from losing Lycamobile as a wholesale customer. 

Ortel Mobile was started in 2006 as a MVNO on the Base network, which was acquired by Telenet from KPN. According to research by Telecompaper, Lycamobile and Ortel are the two largest MVNOs on the Belgian market. 

Updates
13 FEB 2017 - Adds statement from Orange.

Categories:

Mobile

Companies:

Orange,  Ortel Mobile,  Telenet,  Lycamobile

Countries:

Belgium

Tags:

Wireless, Internet Access, Consumer, M&A buyouts & divestments

Related Articles

BELGIUM 22 JUN 2018

Belgian mobile service revenues down again in Q1 2018, led by Telenet

The Belgian government's plan to attract a fourth mobile operator may face an uphill battle, as the latest figures from Telecompaper show the market offers little opportunity for growth. In the first quarter of 2018, the Belgian mobile market showed a further decline in service revenues and a large decrease in the number of Sims, due to the prepaid registration law implemented last year. All operators lost service revenues, while Orange performed the best, losing the least revenues.

BELGIUM 23 MRT 2018

Belgian mobile base contracts 7% in 2017, revenues down only 0.8%

The Belgian mobile market shrank by 7 percent in 2017, dropping from 11.03 million Sims at the end of 2016 to 10.25 million Sims a year later. The decline was driven by a significant drop in prepaid cards due to the new prepaid registration law, leading to many inactive cards being cancelled. Operators managed to limit the impact on revenues by focusing more on converged fixed-mobile offers and ever-bigger mobile data plans.

BELGIUM 6 FEB 2018

Voo to move mobile customers from Orange to Base network

Belgian cable operator Voo is changing mobile network for its MVNO, from Orange to Telenet's Base. Voo already works with Telenet on the mobile services since 2013, and following Telenet's takeover of Base in 2016, will now use its network as well, rather than Orange. Earlier, Telenet ended its own wholesale agreement with Orange. 

BELGIUM 11 JAN 2018

Lycamobile Belgium fined for failure to work with ombudsman

MVNO Lycamobile Belgium received a fine of EUR 12,500 from the regulator BIPT for not cooperating with the ombudsman's office. BIPT said it was a serious violation, which goes back to at least 2016. 

BELGIUM 2 JAN 2018

Belgian mobile virtual market hit by prepaid and roaming regulations

The number of mobile virtual operators in Belgium fell in the past year, but the VOs' share of the total mobile market remained steady, according to Telecomaper's latest research. Both the number of players and the number of Sims declined in the virtual market, hurt by new regulations such as roam-like-home in the EU and mandatory prepaid registration. The regulations prompted some players to exit the market, including Aldi Talk and Simyo, while Numericable was bought by Telenet. We expect more consolidatio

SOUTH AFRICA 14 AUG 2017

Lycamobile inks partnership with Cell C for South Africa launch

MVNO Lycamobile announced it has partnered with Cell C to start rolling out its services in South Africa. This expands Lycamobile's global network to 23 countries and marks the firm's first launch in sub-Saharan Africa. 

BELGIUM 7 JUN 2017

Belgian mobile market: prepaid share falls on mandatory registration, shift to quad-play

The mandatory prepaid registration law and focus on quad-play plans led to a further drop in prepaid customers in the Belgian mobile market in Q1 2017. Prepaid customers accounted for 23.3 percent of all mobile customers (excluding MVNOs) at the end of March, down from 27.8 percent a year earlier and just over 40 percent two years ago, according to Telecompaper's latest research on the Belgian Mobile market.

UKRAINE 18 MEI 2017

Lycamobile prepares entry on Ukrainian market

MVNO Lycamobile is preparing to enter the Ukrainian market, reports BizLigaNet. Representatives of the company have met with Ukrainian fixed operator Ukrtelecom and its subsidiary, the mobile operator Trimob. LycaMobile plans to sign a partnership agreement with Trimob to use its network. A spokesman for Ukrtelecom confirmed the companies in talks on a possible launch but declined to provide further details.

BELGIUM 27 APR 2017

Telenet ups quad-play penetration, Q1 revenues lift 11%

Belgian operator Telenet said first-quarter revenues lifted 11 percent from the year before to EUR 616.0 million, thanks to its takeover of mobile operator Base and the sale of Ortel Mobile to Lycamobile. Total mobile revenues fell 4 percent on an organic basis due to discounts in the Wigo offer, the cut to regulated roaming prices, changes to handset pricing and lower usage-related revenue per user. Adjusted EBITDA rose 10 percent to EUR 289.4 million. On an organic basis, Telenet said revenues were stable

SOUTH AFRICA 15 MRT 2017

Lycamobile lanceert in Zuid-Afrika

De internationale MVNO Lycamobile zal binnenkort van start gaan in Zuid-Afrika, meldt Techcentral op basis van uitlatingen van CEO van provider Cell C Jose dos Santos. In Zuid-Afrika zal Lycamobile gebruikt gaan maken van het netwerk van Cell C, maar wanneer is onbekend. Cell al de MVNO's FNB Connect, MRP Mobile en Virgin Mobile op zijn netwerk. Lycamobile typeert zichzelf als de grootste MVNO wereldwijd met meer dan 16 miljoen klanten. Het bedrijf is actief in 21 landen waaronder in België en Nederland. In

BELGIUM 21 FEB 2017

Telenet extends MVNE contract with Artilium for 5 years

Artilium announced that it has secured an expanded MVNE platform agreement with its largest customer, Telenet. The contract will include a cash payment this month of EUR 5.3 million, as an advance on revenue to be recognised in equal instalments over the five years of the deal.

BELGIUM 13 FEB 2017

Belgian MVNO market consolidates: Telenet/Base becomes dominant host network

The Belgian MVNO market is consolidating, driven by Telenet's takeover of the most popular host network Base and Lycamobile's acquisition of Ortel. The new requirement for registering prepaid customers, and the general market shift to data-driven postpaid plans are also contributing to the pressure on virtual operators.

BELGIUM 10 FEB 2017

Lycamobile B stapt over van netwerk Orange naar Telenet

Telenet maakt bekend dat Lycamobile Belgium Limited actief wordt als Full MVNO op het mobiele netwerk van de Belgische operator. Telenet verkoopt Ortel Mobile NV aan Lycamobile. De twee MVNO's hebben opgeteld ongeveer 1 miljoen klanten in België, voor proposities gericht op internationaal prepaid bellen en data. Lycamobile zat sinds de entree in België in 2007 op het netwerk van Orange. Ortel Mobile bestaat sinds 2006, als aanbieder op het netwerk van Base (vorig jaar door Telenet ovegenomen van KPN).

BELGIUM 1 FEB 2017

Belgian MVNO market shrinks after Telenet exit

The Belgian virtual operator market shrunk to 12.5 million SIMs at the end of September 2016 from 13.1 million six months earlier, according to Telecompaper's latest research. The decline was due largely to Telenet exiting the market and becoming a full mobile operator with the acquisition of Base. As a result, the VOs share of the total mobile market in Belgium dropped to 16 percent in Q3 2016 from 23 percent a year earlier.

Just In

19 DEC 16:42

SLT-Mobitel launches 5G network in Sri Lanka

19 DEC 16:19

Dialog Axiata launches 5G network, connects 1.5 million subscribers

19 DEC 15:56

UK govt to ban AI-enabled nudification apps to protect women, girls

19 DEC 15:42

3 UK launches last-minute Christmas sale

Commentary

13:56

Video market set for slower growth ahead

11:38

Netflix buys Warner Bros to deepen content catalogue

11:11

KPN's mixed performance in Q3 raises questions for strategy day

15:26

Stock markets breaking records but what happened to Odido's IPO plans?

Background

01:04

The week in telecom: Wi-Fi bolt-ons take off to boost broadband growth, video market works on consolidation

01:39

The week in telecom: Netflix wins bidding for Warner Bros, Apple poaches new execs, Samsung debuts trifold

13:51

Proximus vs. Telenet: Proximus performs better in Q3 while Telenet uses up cash

14:16

Proximus Domestic still struggling with low margins

Complete profile

Before downloading the whitepaper, we would like to ask you to complete your profile with company and position. After confirming you will receive the white paper.