• Comtel Corporation Limited
• Website: www.commoditel.com.au

Industry:

Wireless Telecommunication Services

Fiscal Year-End:

Jun 10

CMO is both a Mobile Virtual Network Enabler (MVNE) and a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO). As an MVNE, CMO provides wholesale prepaid mobile services to retail organisations, which, in turn, leverage their brand and customer base to sell their own branded mobile offering (for example, Virgin Mobile). As an MVNO, CMO sells discount prepaid and postpaid services directly to mobile users (via its Revolution and JUST prepaid and JUSTMobile telecom brands).

Commoditel Limited first listed on the Australian Stock Exchange in 1985. The company has undergone a series of name changes, most recently from Natural Intelligence Limited (NAI) to Commoditel Limited (CMO) in July 2004. Its head office is located in Perth, Western Australia. The company was renamed to its current name in November 2007.

MVNOs have been present in the European mobile industry for several years. The best-known MVNO is probably Virgin Mobile, a service provider that illustrates the benefits of the model for companies with a strong brand and a large existing customer base. In Australia, the MVNE service offering is benefiting from the fact that telco networks are reducing margins for retailers that sell prepaid services, prompting some retailers to consider their own mobile offering to regain control over margins.

CMO's primary point of differentiation is its low-cost business model, which, in turn, enables it to offer highly competitive services to both retail and wholesale segments. Another attractive feature of CMO's business model is that in primarily providing prepaid services, it has the cashflow benefit of collecting money up-front. CMO is also one of the first MVNEs in Australia and, as such, has an early mover advantage in a segment that has developed successfully in other geographic markets.

Major customers include Australia's leading business organisations, individual mobile users (through wholly owned division, Revolution Telecom), and mobile and telecommunications retailers throughout Australia. CMO's major competitors include other providers of mobile services in Australia, such as Vodafone and Optus, and providers of enterprise management systems.