MVNOs are no longer set to differentiate their offerings based on price, new research has concluded.
Companies such as Virgin Mobile and Lycamobile will instead look to focus on customer service and offering new services.
Vendor Amdocs polled 99 MVNOs, 75 of which were in Europe.
Sixty seven percent of European MVNOs said they plan to differentiate by focusing on customer service, while 63 percent plan to add value with new services.
Less than half, 46 percent, said they plan to continue to focus on providing cheaper prices as a strategy for growth.
Globally, 38 percent plan to launch new brands or expand internationally, and 33 percent plan to add entirely new lines of business.
The change in approach comes as MVNOs predict they will grow their customer bases.
Those polled estimate their business to grow at an average rate of 45 percent over the next two years, with 25 percent predicting a growth rate of more than 100 percent.
MVNOs suggested the growth would be fuelled by attracting customers from rivals.
“The European MVNO market has matured to a point where discounting as a strategy is no longer sufficient to guarantee success,” said Teresa Cottam, Chief Strategist and Founder at Telesperience, who led the research on behalf of Amdocs.
“Given the move to differentiation strategies based on customer experience and offerings, having the right systems in place to enable the quick and reliable rollout of new products which are better targeted to enable micro segmentation, as well as anticipate and respond to market demands through advanced billing, charging and control features, will be essential.
“MVNOs that have systems that offer only simple capabilities will be at risk of losing out as they fail to meet customer expectations.”