RE: RE: (ukha_d) Mobile Phones (maybe OT)

["James, Daniel" <daniel.james@xxxxxxx>]

>AFAIK, Vodafone issued a limited number of service provider licences to
a
>few companies a few years ago. This gave you the right to basically
buy
bulk
>minutes from Vodafone, package them up into various tariffs yourselves,
and
>then sell them on to the end user. Vodafone have since stopped
issuing
these
>service provider licences now - presumably in an effort to go the same
way
>as Orange and run a lot of it themselves.

Way back in the midst's of time... when there were only 2 mobile networks
in
the UK, the government said that they could not sell airtime direct,
and
that they would need to generate some competition in the market, hence
the
invention of resellers, (service providers).

Now these service providers were a funny lot, they brought bulk airtime
from
the networks and resold it to the shops that sold you phones. Then the
service providers started selling through their own shops, (remember
Peoples
Phone :-)

So consumers thought they were signing up for a contract with
"Vodafone" but
actually were buying from a reseller, at there strange rates... and with
mad
contracts (6 months disconnection notices free airtime deals, etc....
:-)

With the advent of the digital GSM 1800 and 900 networks, and there now
being 2 new kids on the block that could sell direct, the other
networks
were then granted licences to sell direct, removing the middle man, and
their dodgy deals.

Cellnet + Vodafone have been buying out many of there SPs, but there are
a
few left, and depending upon the services they buy from the networks,
depends upon what they will pass onto you the consumer. :-)


Daniel


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