Two Brazilian MVNOs have reportedly been the winners of a tender process to provide mobile connectivity to up to 700,000 students via the public network across the country – the first time that MVNOs have won a bid from the federal government to provide mobile connectivity.
They are Dry Company and Nuh! Telecom and they won the bid for the Internet Brazil Programme that passed into law this week. This programme aims to expand Internet access and digital inclusion. However as local press reports make clear, traditional operators did not submit a proposal.
Nuh! is an authorized MVNO that is directly connected to TIM's network as is Dry. Both are accredited Surf Telecom MVNOs. Surf is a mobile virtual network enabler/aggregator.
There has also been a bidding process to choose to hire a neutral chip supplier and platform through which the data plans of the selected companies will be managed. The winner of this process has not yet been announced.
The ten-month-long first phase of testing will see the two companies provide mobile connectivity to 10,000 students, a number that will eventually reach 700,000. The government will be able to choose between 5, 10, 20 and 40 GB plans. The value of the packages has not been revealed.
This is clearly a high-profile win for the two MVNOs. Surf reportedly last year had 740,000 subscribers, a number that includes the Dry base of 350,000 subscribers, mostly through partnerships with football clubs.