Agreement will see company supply the US market with operator’s SIM cards and prepay equipment
UK online distributor Expansys and its subsidiary Data Select Network Solutions (DSNS) has signed a nationwide agreement with T-Mobile USA to distribute the operators’ SIM cards and prepay equipment throughout the US retail market.
The deal, for an undisclosed fee, is Expansys’s first in the US and is a major opportunity for the Manchester-based company, due to the underdeveloped US prepay market.
Expansys chief executive Anthony Catterson (pictured) said that because the US, unlike the UK, has two competing mobile technologies – GSM and CDMA – the market available is five times the size of the UK’s.
“The carriers have strict control over the market in the US. But the consumer demand for better value and better choice will drive the prepay handset and SIM-only markets in the way they did in the UK over the last four or five years.”
The distribution model for the US operation will be based on the UK DSNS solution, giving Expansys valuable experience in the early stages.
T-Mobile senior national account manager of retail partner sales and prepaid, Bill Davis, said the deal was part of a drive to move into a new market space.
“T-Mobile recognises the potential for the prepay and SIM-only markets in the USA and requires partners with experience, management capability and logistical solutions to drive our proposition.”
The company is upbeat about the US market, and the door is open for more ventures, it said.
