Case study: Virgin Mobile Latin America’s Leading MVNO

Peter Macnee, President and CEO, Virgin Mobile Latin America

Virgin Mobile started their “voyage” into Latin America about a year and a half ago. A mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) is a branded reseller of existing network operators, they have exclusive rights to Virgin brand in Latin America. Many consumers in Latin America did not recognize the Virgin brand. Chile was the first country Virgin Mobile Latin America penetrated.  Virgin group came in as investors as part of the licensing and brand agreement.

Customer service is very important for the people in the mobile operation industry. In Latin America the customer service is deplorable so the bar is not very high.

The LatAm market conditions are ripe for MVNO entry. The network operators realize they need help zoning in on and specializing in certain market segments to have success. This is why Virgin Mobile Latin America was able to break into the region.

Virgin Mobile has a unique way of marketing to the youth of Chile. They have risky advertising. Because of this, the brand awareness in Chile went from basically 0% to 47% in three months.

In Chile and Colombia the network operator that they have a deal with is Telefonica. In Brazil, Virgin has a MOU with a network operator but they have not announced who it is yet. Their last round of funding, round B, was successful and now they are starting a round C funding.