Our association with the Tatas unites the passion of our two business groups for putting customers first and finding innovative, fun ways of enriching their lives, and it represents Virgin Group's strong focus on India. Allegations have flown thick and fast ever since Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Mobile signed a partnership deal with Tata Teleservices to make its India foray. Rivals were quick to term the deal as a surrogate MVNO play and have since then launched a scathing attack on Tata Tele for exploiting the loopholes in regulations to allow the British operator to enter the Indian market as an MVNO. An MVNO does not have its own radio spectrum or network infrastructure, but takes lease from existing mobile operators.
In other words, an MVNO buys airtime from the existing operators and resells them by packaging the services under its own brand. As of now, Indian telecom regulations do not permit such services in the country. This probably forced Virgin Mobile, which is essentially an MVNO, to roll out its services in India as a franchisee of Tata Teleservices. Virgin Mobile, which was started as the world's first MVNO in 1999, in UK, today operates in countries such as the UK, Australia, Canada, South Africa, the US and France. However, the so-called `brand franchisee' deal is under attack, especially from the rival GSM operators who have dubbed it as a surrogate MVNO deal. "The mobile services that have been launched in India by Virgin Mobile India are the same services that the Virgin Group already offers, as an MVNO, in other parts of the world under the same brand.
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