Spanish Football Club Launches MVNO

Spanish football club Real Murcia has launched a new MVNO service called Movilgrana, running on the Yoigo and Orange networks, according to a report. The service offers mobile and fiber plans including “Hazlotoyo” with 9 GB of data and unlimited calls for €9.90 (US $11.04) a month, “Masvivo” with 15 GB and unlimited calls for €14.90 (US $16.61) and “Comounasolaalma” with 25 GB and unlimited calls for €19.90 (US $22.19) a month. 

As a promotion to celebrate the launch of the service, all customers who sign up by 15 January will get a bonus 3 GB of data a month for three months.

In order to be viable and, in the end, successful, a virtual network offering should have a strong identity and a focused subscriber base. This ensures a raison d’etre for the operator, a meaningful basis on which to compete in a crowded marketplace. Ideally, the brand identity and the identity of the subscriber base will be intertwined or closely related.

Many MVNOs have been launched by consumer businesses that sell the service to existing paying clients. In the case of a sports team, there is not exactly the same kind of paying customer base, but there is a strong base of loyalty that can be parlayed into brand loyalty. Football fandom in Spain may well be intense enough to motivate a significant number of people to subscribe to a new MVNO.

More significant is the fact that MVNOs have seen a great deal of success with a social-media model, in which users—especially young ones—use the service to foster a community of sorts. In this case, fans of Real Murcia would naturally want to communicate with each other about games and other matters related to the club. The MVNO could both facilitate and encourage that. 

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