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Have OVIVO gone bust?
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Ovivo was free to the customer, but got money from advertisers, which they paid to Vodafone. So Vodafone still got paid. They don't care where the money comes from. Stop your silly conspiracy theories - if they didn't want Ovivo to exist then they wouldn't have agreed to let them buy service from their network
Vodafone were paid wholesale rates. Their big profits come from retail contract customers.
If Ovivo became too big then vodafone would not want it to survive. In fact they would probably buy them out.0 -
pdoherty76 wrote: »Vodafone were paid wholesale rates. Their big profits come from retail contract customers.
Indeed primarily the many retail customers who lock themselves into long, expensive contracts in return for a "free" phone, and business customers, especially those who run up significant roaming bills and such like.
The low use/low value customers that were typically attracted to Ovivo are rather less significant to the bottom line.If Ovivo became too big then vodafone would not want it to survive. In fact they would probably buy them out.
Now that is quite possible, and was reportedly Ovivo's long term plan from the way it was sold to investors.0 -
I find the explanation from Ovivo puzzling. If the facts are as they claim they should be entitled to make a claim against the company that breached the contract and seek damages.
It's not clear where the story has come from. It may well have been leaked by Ovivo, or more likely by an Ovivo employee, but there has been no official statement by the company.
If Cognatel is in breach of contract and there is reasonable prospect of recovering damages I'm sure that will still happen on behalf of their shareholders and creditors. However, whatever the outcome of that if the failure to deliver was fatal to the business model and there was no reasonable prospect of reversing that then they still had no option but to cease trading.0 -
Bit geeky, but there is a "good bye world" note in Ovivo's CSS if anyone cares! I can't post links, but an inspect element will do.0
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There had always been a reluctance by MSE to promote OVIVO for whatever reason, whilst giving Samba Mobile full publicity. But MSE did eventually give Ovivo some publicity a few weeks back, at a time when Ovivo Mobile was attempting to raise £3m in just a few months.
Ovivo generated its income from displaying ads to customers, as does Samba Mobile. But, whereas Ovivo provided both free calls and free internet, Samba Mobile only provides free internet.
When Ovivo launched I saw quite a bit of criticism about Dariush Zand, who was, at the time, Ovivo's only director as he appeared to be a serial failure as an entrepreneur. The failure without warning of Ovivo Mobile, would strengthen that claim.
The closing down, without warning, reminds me of Mercury Telecom who were, in effect, shut down by Vodafone and BT who pulled the plug on services. I am guessing that is also what happened in this case.
It should be possible to use a Samba Mobile SIM for phone calls too (at least over SIP) using a number obtained from Flextel and a suitable free SIP provider. This would have the benefit of having a geographical (01/02) number on your mobile and many hours of free calls each month but you do need a good data connection for this to work.0 -
Ah Samba... They are also a bit challenged, leastwise their adverts suck a bit which does not portend well.
I have a theory that Ovivo will not be the last service of its type. Once 4g is properly established in the UK there'll be a surfeit of mobile data capacity on 3g = cost drop = new business opportunities. Especial target markets will be mobile tablets and kids. Some companies, maybe some of the bigger boys eg a supermarket chain, will be tempted to enter this space. Meanwhile all the knowledge workers at Ovivo are probably fighting off job offers. As well as the 'goodbye world' message, were there any CVs buried in the CSS script on Ovivo's site?0 -
Bit geeky, but there is a "good bye world" note in Ovivo's CSS if anyone cares! I can't post links, but an inspect element will do.
Sorry not in the loop when it comes to I.T. jargon, an explanation as to how I can view the "goodbye world" note would be very much appreciated.
Many thanks0 -
Vanonymous wrote: »Sorry not in the loop when it comes to I.T. jargon, an explanation as to how I can view the "goodbye world" note would be very much appreciated.
Many thanks
poppy100
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