With the content-centered, postpaid mobile virtual network operator market in decline, analysts have already begun talking about the next evolution of the MVNO model. Apple Inc.’s iPhone is one example. So is recently launched Sonopia.
Juha Christensen, CEO of Sonopia, compares his company to credit card giant MBNA, which has made a business out of branded credit cards that are offered through groups such as alumni associations and charities. The partnership provides the groups with a percentage of the purchases made on the cards.
Sonopia takes that model mobile-presenting affinity groups a way to offer branded wireless services to their members, without the expense of setting up an actual MVNO. The company has a network agreement with a large CDMA carrier in the U.S., Christensen said-but the company is also an MVNO enabler or MVNE, since it enables groups to form their own MVNOs-or “Sonopias,” as the company calls them.
Christensen declined to name the carrier whose network Sonopia uses, but the company’s coverage maps suggest that it is Verizon Wireless.
15 minutes to mobile
Christensen said it takes about 15 minutes for a small group to establish its own mobile service through Sonopia’s self-service Web site. Sonopia generally recommends that groups with fewer than 50,000 members use the self-service site, and works directly with groups whose membership exceeds 50,000-such as the National Wildlife Federation and the National Wild Turkey Federation.
“I think what appealed to us was this idea of mobile advocacy and mobile fundraising is pretty much a new technology, and something that has the potential to be groundbreaking and really influential,” said Evelyn Furia, account manager for the National Wildlife Federation, which was one of the first companies Sonopia approached to sign up prior to its launch in April. The organization has more than 4 million members.
Sonopia receives blank handsets at the company’s warehouse claims they can be branded externally and within minutes loaded with content specific to the customer. Rate plan prices are deliberately kept in line with offers by the national carriers, Christensen said.
Cost management
The bulk of Sonopia’s operations are based in the Ukraine, its devices are not sold in retail locations and since it doesn’t use its own brand, it also sidesteps the marketing expenses that have categorized many new MVNOs. Also, the groups that it works with share the cost of marketing, by providing promotion space on their Web sites and in their publications, as well as by providing Sonopia with membership lists for the company to utilize.
Although about 80% of its operations are overseas, Sonopia’s customer care center is located in the U.S., Christensen said. The cost per minute is higher, he noted, but the company promises subscribers that the agent who answers their call will be the one who solves their problem, leading to shorter overall calls. Customers also appreciate the U.S.-based center, he said, because often they have had a negative experience dealing with agents in foreign call centers.
Although NWF has other affinity programs, Furia said, “I don’t think we have any other partnership as technology-based as this one.”
Furia declined to give customer numbers at this point, noting that the service has only been available for a few months and many potential customers are still under contract with other carriers. But, she added that customer feedback has been positive and that Sonopia made the process easy.
“We just hope that it’ll be a good way to engage the members, encourage them to donate more or just increase their connection to the brand,” Furia said.
