The vast majority of MVNOs use Optus, with a handful of them on Vodafone. We could pretty soon see a slew of Next-G capable mobile virtual network operators with the news that Telstra’s signed up its first wholesaler for its Next G network.
That doesn’t mean you’ll be able to buy cut-rate Next G just yet, however; as Delimiter points out, the signee in this case is just another wholesaler, iTelecom Wholesaler. They’ll have to then head out to get the consumer-facing MVNOs into the deal. The Delimiter story quotes iTelecom’s chief technology officer Bruno Giger
“We chose Telstra Wholesale’s postpaid mobile solution because we know we will receive a quality service over a robust and reliable network. This will underpin our Mobile Virtual Network Enabler (MVNE) platform and provide a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) solution to retail service providers.”
The deal’s only for Telstra’s Next-G branded 3G services, so those looking for cheaper 4G will have to wait — and at a guess, they might be waiting a while. [Delimiter]