By What is an MVNO?
MVNOs appeared in France as early as in 1999 and truly started flourishing after 2006, with the appearance of the low-cost MNO provider Free Mobile. But who are these providers, and what makes them worth considering?
The appearance of virtual providers
Mobile Virtual Network Operators are, simply put, telecom providers that don't own a network - which means they are, in essence, "virtual". They oppose themselves to MNOs (Mobile Network Operators), which are at a total of 4 in France. This is because a French regulation has put a limit of 4 on the number of physical networks allowed to be in existence on the territory.
As a result, in order to function, providers other than Orange, Free Mobile, Bouygues Telecom and SFR have to buy telecommunications off an MNO. Once purchased, they can then sell these to their customers, at very discounted rates.
In 2016, there were around 7 million clients subscribed to MVNOs contracts in France: This is quite a significant number, but still represents less altogether than any single MNO (the smallest of which, Free Mobile, had a customer base of 12 million at the time). MVNOs are thus not competing on the same level as the largest providers yet, and it seems like customers still tend to favour Free, Bouygues, SFR and Orange today, in part because of these providers' legitimacy and notoriety.
The networks used by MVNOs in France
As stated above, MVNOs rely on the big telecom providers to get access to the network. Here is how different MVNOs have chosen their partner supplier in order to operate:
SFR network
- Afone Mobile
- Budget Telecom
- Club Budget
- Cofidis Mobile
- Coriolis
- Joi Telecom
- Lebara Mobile
- Prixtel
- Reglo Mobile
- SIM+
- Syma Mobile
- Vectone Mobile
Bouygues Telecom network
- Auchan Telecom
- Cdiscount Mobile
- CIC Mobile
- Crédit Mutuel Mobile
- La Poste Mobile
- Lycamobile
- NRJ Mobile
Orange network
- Bazile Telecom
- Nordnet
- Transatel Mobile
Multiple networks
- Akéo (Bouygues + Orange)
- YouPrice (Bouygues + Orange + SFR)
The different types of MVNOs in France
Light and full MVNOs
These two types of MVNOs, "light" and "full", are differentiated by the following technical equipment:
- ✓a vocal messaging platform;
- ✓an interactive vocal server;
- ✓a location register / centralised database;
- ✓and a mobile phone commutation centre.
| Light MVNO | Full MVNO | |
|---|---|---|
| Owns technical equipment (voicemail, database…) | No | Yes |
| Negotiates tariffs with MNOs directly | No | Yes |
| Can offer 4G+ coverage | No | Yes |
| Issues own SIM card | No | Yes |
| Generally cheaper plans | Yes | Partial |
A provider having the above specificities will be considered a full MVNO, which compared to the light ones will be able to provide all the same functionalities as MNOs, apart from the network coverage. This more extensive amount of equipment and functionalities impacts the costs for full MVNOs and can explain why they charge more for their offers than their light counterparts.
Additionally, full MVNOs have the agency to negotiate tariffs with classic suppliers and adopt the best current technology such as 4G+ coverage. They can also provide their customers with their own SIM card.
An example of a full MVNO is Transatel (owned by NTT), which operates on the Orange network with its own HLR — enabling it to serve IoT and M2M customers across more than 200 countries independently.
Are MVNOs right for me?
So, is it worth changing phone supplier and switching to an MVNO today? It all depends on your needs.
In order to give you a rough idea of what a low-cost offer generally looks like in France, here is what the infamous €2 Free Mobile offer includes (per month), as a reference:
- ✓2 hours of calls to fixed lines and mobile, in France and internationally;
- ✓Illimited texts and MMS in France;
- ✓50Mo of data.
With this in mind, below is a selection of some of the MVNO offers currently on the market in France: They are ranked from cheapest to most expensive and allowances and prices are given for a month.
Looking for a cheap phone deal that will suit your needs? Contact Selectra's English speaking advisors at +33 9 77 55 72 27 to benefit from the most competitive offer for you, depending on your situation: You can also ask for a free callback.
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