Blyk shelves plans to expand to other markets, focuses on carrier partnerships

Relabeling its first (and only) live network as a "proof of concept," Blyk CEO Antti Öhrling has told mocoNews that the fledgling MVNO -- which trades a handful of voice minutes and text messages per month for a subscriber's agreement to put up with on-device advertising -- has stopped efforts to expand to other countries. It seems the new game plan involves sacking up with other carriers to license its technology, which'll probably cost Blyk a whole heck of a lot less than setting up new MVNO deals and running operations everywhere they go. That said, users of Blyk's UK network needn't fear; there's apparently no plan to shutter the service, though odds are good they'll be transferred to another carrier should the company find a suitable partner. It's a lot of work for 43 minutes a month, isn't it?

[(Unverified) Posted May 19th 2009 5:07PM]

I'm sad to hear that Blyk won't be expanding, but am glad to know they're working on improving things here in the UK.

I've been using Blyk since November 2007, and have found the service to be absolutely fantastic. I'm a student, so most of my communication is either done via Facebook or in person, and I rarely surpass the £15 monthly allowance Blyk provides. I get an advertisement text from Blyk once every 2-3 days; they're unobtrusive and often useful. However, it's not been a completely smooth ride - Blyk went through a patch of poor SMS delivery in the Spring of 2008. Texts could sometimes take 6-10 hours to be delivered! Things have been fine for the past year though...