The UK has a new advertising-funded mobile phone network. It’s a virtual mobile network called Ovivo Mobile that’ll use the Vodafone network and has been developed through mobile virtual network aggregator Cognatel.
The SIM-only prepaid service will offer free monthly usage in exchange for targeted mobile advertising.
Customers pay £20 to sign up, which includes £15 of credit. They’ll then receive an allowance of 100 minutes and 100 text messages every month, along with a 10MB daily data allowance, in return for receiving advertising messages. Additional usage outside this allowance will cost 6p per call minute, per text and per megabyte. Additional free usage can be earned by recommending new customers via Facebook.
Dariush Zand, founder and CEO of the Ovivo Mobile MVNO, said “We are committed to setting customers free from the traditional mobile experience. We know that we won’t be right for everyone but customers that do choose Ovivo Mobile will get a fantastic free service simply by agreeing to receive adverts that closely match their interests. There will be no long term contracts or monthly commitments and the volume and duration of ads will be tightly controlled to safeguard the overall customer experience.”
Customers can pre-register at www.ovivomobile.com; the company says it’ll then contact new users within the next 2 weeks.