The CEO of alternative broadband operator Netomnia, Jeremy Chelot, has provided a small update on what was previously merely a future aspiration to potentially introduce a mobile phone service to their retail ISP YouFibre (inc. Brsk). The plan now is to launch their first mobile plans sometime this year.
Just to recap. Netomnia is currently in the process of completing their merger with Brsk (here) and aims to expand their full fibre (FTTP) broadband network, which already covers over 2 million UK premises, to reach 3 million premises by the end of 2025 (inc. 1 million customers by 2028). The service is currently available across parts of over 90 cities and towns.
At present, the operator is still laser focused on broadband connectivity, although anybody who read our interview with Jeremy last April (here) will know that, when asked where the operator would be in 2030, he responded to say that they would “be in talks with a mobile operator to become a fixed and mobile provider“. But as it turns out, this seems to be happening considerably sooner than that.
According to a new interview with Jeremy, which was conducted by strategic consultancy firm Eight Advisory (see bottom of article for the video), the plan is to launch a mobile service this year. In addition, on the subject of FTTP take-up, Jeremy said their target is to hit 33% after 5 years, although “currently it sounds like we are getting there more in a 4-year type of period“, unless Openreach’s FTTP is there, then it tends to take about a year longer than that.
Jeremy Chelot, CEO of the Netomnia Group (inc. Brsk, YouFibre), said:
“There is a level of market share I will struggle to break, until I have a proposition which is a bit more complete. And that’s why we are planning to launch, for example, a mobile service at some point this year. Because I think otherwise there is a segment of the market that you can never tap.”
The difficulty above is that the mobile market is already extremely competitive and a lot of consumers often prefer to keep this part of their service separate (not bundled), as it allows for more flexibility when switching between deals. Lest we forget that trying to establish your own MVNO, assuming this is the approach Netomnia will take, can be an expensive process, and it’s one that doesn’t always work out (just ask TalkTalk).
In addition, once you have an MVNO relationship running, then that usually lasts 5-7 years before coming up for contract renewal. Often at this point, an internet provider may choose to switch Mobile suppliers, which is a process that can generate some problems for customers (SIM swaps, account/billing errors etc.) and thus a fair bit of negative press.
Suffice to say, ISPs need to take a lot of care when diving deep into mobile, although those that take a softer approach may sit at a disadvantage by virtue of only being able to offer less competitive plans. On the other hand, if anybody can come up with an attractive and different way of doing things, then Netomnia already has a good track record.