Wales gets its own MVNO

RWG Mobile is a new MVNO, launched on the Three network, that is designed to cater specifically to the needs of Welsh people.

Claiming to be the UK’s first provincial mobile network RWG (which stands for Red, White, Green – the colours of the Welsh flag) is the brainchild of Welsh entrepreneur Andrew Davies, who had previously been CEO of Nowtel. He’s been working on it for a year and reckons the market will support a region-specific mobile service.

“No other country or region of the UK has its own mobile network, so we set out to create a communications provider and a service that reflects and understands the needs of the Welsh population,” said Davies.

“RWG Mobile will compete with the big networks and other MVNOs, matching them in areas like connection speeds, international dialing and call rates but providing a user experience, customer service support and additional benefits that have a distinct Welsh identity.”

The mechanics of the service are novel. There doesn’t seem to be an RWG SIM card and the whole thing is set up via an app and SMS validation, so it’s apparently designed to appeal to existing Welsh PAYG users. It seems to be based on the x-Mobility white-label MVNO platform, which includes a virtual SIM service that offers access to the Three network without the need for a physical Three SIM.

“Creating services that will specifically cater to a Welsh audience is a great concept for an MVNO,” said Shanks Kulam, Co-Founder and CMO at x-Mobility. “New MVNOs, such as RWG Mobile can now create new business models that open up new possibilities for subscribers about how they use their phone and their number.”

Further inspection reveals that people are supposed to first download the app, which puts an emphasis on doing stuff for free over wifi, including OTT calls to other RWG subscribers, and then get apply for a hard SIM and a PAYG tariff, with post-paid ones to come. This is a slightly tricky concept for potential subscribers to get their heads around and RWG will need to ensure the process is as simple as possible if it doesn’t want to scare people away.