

Finland's Alekstra is quietly building the first Global Virtual Network Operator - regandersong
http://www.arcticstartup.com/2012/05/07/alekstra-to-disrupt-everything-you-hate-about-your-mobile-carrier

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martey
_Alexstra_ [sic] _has positioned themselves to get acquired in the next 24
months ... without an acquisition Alekstra plans on running an IPO and
becoming a stand-alone operator by the first half of 2014, offering services
to both business customers and consumers._

So "disrupting the global wireless industry" (as the article proclaims in both
its headline and its lede) is Alekstra's backup plan?

Reading both the article and the company's website, I am concerned about
Alekstra's chances:

\- their website does not contain clear information about who they are and
what they do

\- the article seems to suggest that they help companies lower their mobile
bills, which seems significantly different than becoming a virtual network
operator

\- the article claims that they have several companies as customers, including
McDonald's. Looking at the references page of Alekstra's website, this seems
to be McDonald's Oy, McD's Finnish subsidiary.

Looking at an earlier article by Bloomberg -
[http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-02/alekstra-plans-
to-s...](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-02/alekstra-plans-to-start-
virtual-mobile-phone-operator-in-2014.html) \- it looks like Alekstra hopes to
make money by lowering roaming charges on international calls by routing them
through their own network. This is vastly different from lowering the price of
domestic calling and data, which (at least in the United States) I think most
consumers care about.

~~~
zamryok
_the article seems to suggest that they help companies lower their mobile
bills, which seems significantly different than becoming a virtual network
operator_

The article also suggests that the biggest obstacle to becoming a global
virtual network operator is plugging into the billing systems of (non-virtual)
operators. If Alekstra has already covered that for their current business of
lowering mobile bills, that means they have a big advantage.

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AndrewDucker
It's about time someone disrupted things like roaming charges. There is no
reason why data traffic should suddenly get expensive just because I'm in a
different country to usual. I wish them every success!

~~~
jerguismi
I wish them success as well, but I don't except speedy results...

------
derrida
How did this hype piece not linking to a single piece of code or demonstration
of a future product get onto the front page of Hacker News?

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matt4711
I wonder what the verizons around the world are going to do to prevent this.
More lobbying dollars?

~~~
AndrewDucker
Well, the could refuse to resell access to their network, and hope that all of
their competitors do likewise.

But that risks either one of their competitors doing the selling (and then
they lose custom to that competitor), or being sued for cartel behaviour if
all of the companies do likewise.

