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Blyk to Enter Belgium Early
(02 Jul 2008, BWCS Staff)Advertising funded mobile operator Blyk has announced plans to enter the Belgian market six months earlier than anticipated. The company reported that it has agreed an MVNO deal with Belgian mobile operator Mobistar. Neither company gave any specific details of the agreement. Blyk previously revealed plans to offer services in Belgium in 2009.
Blyk's service is based on advertising revenues and allows users to make calls and send texts for free in return for having mobile advertisements delivered directly to their phones. The Finnish-British operator which already operates in the UK says it will continue to target 16 to 24 year olds in the new markets. A launch in the Netherlands is set to take place later this year with Germany and Spain following in 2009.
However, some analysts have expressed doubt over the ability of advertising revenues to cover all of Blyk's costs and generate a profit for the upstart MVNO. According to Blyk, six major brands - Buena Vista, Coca-Cola, I-Play Mobile Gaming, L'Oreal Paris, StepStone and Yell.com - have all said that they plan to advertise on the network. Gaining the attention of the mobile-using 16-24 year-old crowd in any society is highly-prized by the advertising industry.
Blyk recently announced that it had reached its first year target in the UK of 100,000 subscribers six months ahead of schedule. "The figures Blyk already achieved and continues achieving in the UK are impressive," said Mobistar CEO Benoit Scheen, in a statement.
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