Calling home while traveling abroad has always been expensive; To some extent, in the past, the costs involved in transporting international telecommunications traffic between countries were justifiably higher than those involved in making a local call. However, as all frequent travelers know very well, careful preparation can easily reduce the cost of international calls by a factor of 10 or more.

The global telecommunications industry is in the grip of another massive sea change in international calling patterns: the ethnic MVNO (mobile virtual network operator).

The consumer proposition delivered by an ethnic MVNO is compelling, one benefits from advantageous calling card rates from one’s chair – all the convenience of mobile with the cost advantage of calling cards.

Ethnic MVNOs are effectively the merger of a low-cost, no-frills national virtual mobile operator and a calling card operation. Ethnic MVNOs typically ensure that the quality of international calls is of a higher standard than what phone card providers typically offer, this of course justifies a slightly higher price per minute than that offered by phone carriers. existing landline phone cards.

Andrew White of Piran Partners, the leading consultancy on Ethnic MVNO, predicts that “the ethnic MVNO market in Europe will be worth € 6 billion in 2012.” It compares well with the 2005 analysis by PWC (PriceWaterhouseCoopers, a leading accounting organization) in which they estimate the UK calling card market at £ 500 million per year.

Click here to learn more about ethnic MVNOs. (c) Piran Partners LLP 2007.