NEWS | Wednesday, 13 February 2008

Eden Group in talks to offer mobile phone services

David Darmanin

Come summer, any Maltese company may act as a mobile phone service operator through a system called Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO).
According to sources who spoke to Business Today on condition of anonymity, Eden Group may be one of the first companies to start offering the service, as an ancillary to its entertainment and communications companies.
Patrick Meyer, Sales Director for Dutch Mobile Virtual Network Enabler (MVNE) Aspider Solutions told Business Today that further to an agreement he signed with Vodafone Malta, Aspider will be offering a service to a variety of Maltese companies, who “will make sure that the service is not competitive only in terms of price, but also in value added.” Asked what is the relationship between Eden Group and Aspider, Meyer quickly replied saying “I cannot tell you.”
On his part, a spokesperson for Eden Group said “It is too early to comment about any of this.”

Business consultant Malcolm Mallia, who is due to take the helm of Aspider Solutions Malta as a director, told this newspaper : “Aspider will not be providing mobile telephony to end-users. We will be giving companies the opportunity to provide their customer base with mobile telephony through their Vodafone subscription. It is then up to the company in question to decide on what form of service to offer. It could include advantageous pricing, free service combined to the purchase of another product or payment transactions by means of mobile phone credit.”
Asked whether Eden Group is one of the companies that will be providing this service through its customer base, targeting Bay Radio listeners, Mallia said “I can neither confirm nor deny. We don’t divulge any information we discuss with other companies.”
“It is important to note,” Mallia added, “that end-users will not be required to change sim cards to benefit from the services of a MVNO. As long as they use a Vodafone platform, they will be able make use of the service using their own line.”
In the Netherlands and on the international media, Aspider was quite open about its agreement with Vodafone, whereas the approach in Malta kept a relatively lower profile. “In Malta, we are still building our core network – and this requires a massive investment,” Meyer told Business Today. “We are still in the process of meeting a number of potential MVNOs in Malta, and we are at the early stages. This is why we kept a low profile until now.”
With regards to regulation, a spokesperson for the Malta Communications Authority (MCA) told this newspaper that : “While a complete framework is still being formulated, the (MVNO) market will certainly not be regulated at the retail level.”
“It is anticipated that guidance regarding the regulatory framework under which the MVNE (referring to Aspider) will operate should be finalised much sooner than the third Quarter of 2008,” she added. “Nevertheless it should be emphasised that the terms and conditions of such agreements (between Vodafone and Aspider) are commercial in nature and not subject to regulation.”

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