Lycamobile steps up to 4G arena

Lycamobile has announced the expansion of its existing partnership with Telefónica to launch 4G data services across its Spanish network.

The launch of 4G data services in Spain is actually the eleventh worldwide in a country which represents a hefty proportion of the total Lycamobile customers. While Lycamobile claims to have 15 million customers worldwide, 1.934 million of them are based in Spain.

“The introduction of 4G services in Spain demonstrates our commitment to Lycamobile customers in the country, who will benefit from the availability of fast, high-quality data,” said Lyca Group Chairman Allirajah Subaskaran.

“With approximately 10% of Spain’s population being made up of foreign-born citizens, this development will make it quicker and easier than ever for our customers to connect with their communities and loved ones across the globe.”

The expansion of the Telefonica partnership follows up a similar 4G announcement in Sweden, after which Lycamobile now claims to deliver a coverage footprint of 99.5% of the Swedish population, as well as a foray into the potential lucrative mobile payments market.

Recently the business launched Lycaremit, an online money transfer service, which allows the transfer of funds to 50 countries which can be collected via banks, cash collection services or mobile wallet, depending on the destination.

While MNOs profit margins certainly have been feeling the squeeze of the digital economy, it would appear this extends to the MVNO market also. Lyca’s move into the payments market could be seen as a similar move to Orange’s foray into finance and consumer banking.

Although the economics of certain diversification moves have been called into question (see Arcep’s reaction to the price of buying content), Lyca’s business model of connecting expats around the world does lend itself well to moving into the mobile payments arena.