Europe’s Blyk is rebooting its American ambitions after ditching its original MVNO model in favour of carrier partnerships. The startup had amassed 200,000 UK users, aged 16 to 24, to get free calls and SMS in return for receiving mobile ads. But now it’s announced it will shut the MVNO and instead power mobile ad services for Orange UK and Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) Netherlands.
CEO Pekka Ala-Pietilä tells me: “The US for us would have been a very, very difficult market to enter under the MVNO approach. Now, when we have a partnering approach, it’s a completely different thing; that means the US is definitely back on our roadmap. “The MVNO had its own benefits but heavy lifting took time. If we want to roll this our fast, we can do much better if we partner with operators.” See the full interview on paidContent:UK…