MVNO:

Mott MacDonald Schema has project managed the definition and launch of a leading MVNO in the UK. Working on behalf of the service provider , Mott MacDonald Schema's responsibilities included:

• Negotiating with the mobile operator on all aspects of service delivery and the establishment of operational processes and service level agreements
• Business planning
• Interfacing with key partners providing operational support facilities (eg customer service and support desk)
• Pricing and distribution strategy.

Fixed/mobile, 2nd Operator Licence Evaluation - South Africa:

A major mobile operator in the African market was assessing the viability of bidding for the Second Network Operator (SNO) licence in South Africa. In particular the operator wished to understand the implications of the unique fixed-mobile nature of the licence.

Mott MacDonald Schema was engaged to produce a model of the market and primary inputs to the business plan. The emphasis was on identifying both the market opportunities for the SNO and any impact on the client's current mobile operations in the region.

Key deliverables of the assignment were:

• a model of the market for fixed domestic and international services (distributed geographically by business segment and consumer group)
• a model forecasting the "fixed-mobile" market together with an outline service description
• key differentiators and a market entry strategy for the SNO.

The work included primary research with all business and consumer sectors (utilising both face-to-face interviews and focus groups). A local research agency, managed by Mott MacDonald Schema, undertook the fieldwork.

Due Diligence on a Mobile ASP:

In mid 2002, the future of third-generation mobile networks (3G) in Europe was looking decidedly unclear. Most European operators had scaled back their 3G-rollout plans and some had even abandoned 3G all together and begun to write off their investments. At the heart of the problem lay negative market sentiment driven by doubts that operators could generate sufficient additional revenue from new services to justify their investments in 3G. Against this background, Mott MacDonald Schema was asked by two venture capital investment funds to undertake a commercial due diligence assessment of a mobile Application Service Provider (ASP), in preparation for its second round of investment funding.

The ASP had developed a unique personal assistant service to be offered via mobile operators. The ASP had signed up a global mobile operator which had tested the service with great success. The service had proved to be extremely popular with corporate users and had raised ARPUs significantly.

Mott MacDonald Schema undertook the assessment, which included:

• a detailed review of the ASP, its service and future development plans
• an extensive programme of desk research aimed at identifying potential competitors and relevant technological trends
• segmentation of the business market by industry sector and application usage to identify the addressable market for the service
• a segmentation of the various channels to market which consisted primarily of mobile operators and independent service providers addressing the business market.

At the end of the project Schema was able to advise the investors that the ASP did have an attractive and unique proposition and that it had every chance of securing significant additional sales.