Mobile Operator Truphone Signs UK MVNO Deal with BT for EE UPDATE

Global-focused mobile operator Truphone, which is based in London, has today signed a new 5-year agreement with BTWholesale to use their Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) services, which will enable them to harness EE’s national 4G and 5G network. But it could mean another network swap for UK customers.

At present the operator is still using O2’s (VMO2) UK mobile (MVNO) platform for their service, which they adopted between 2017 and 2018 after swapping away from Vodafone. But the decision to sign the new deal with BT and EE will change that.

Migrations between different mobile platforms do sometimes cause problems, as well as changes in customer packages, although Truphone’s last platform switch was a fairly seamless change. No doubt they’ll be hoping for an uneventful transition this time around too.

Ralph Steffens, Truphone CEO, said:

“We’re incredibly excited to partner with BT Wholesale, the clear market leader in the UK, on this important relationship in one of our core mobile markets. It’s fantastic to be able to offer our customers the scale and reliability of BT’s network and we are really looking forward to all the opportunities this partnership will afford us.”

Alex Tempest, MD of BT Wholesale, said:

“This new agreement is great news for Truphone customers, who will soon be able to benefit from data speeds more than twice as fast as any other network. Alongside Truphone’s success in Enterprise mobile, we have been particularly impressed with Truphone’s capability and ambitions in IoT. Customers have an ever-increasing focus on network experience and we’re proud that Truphone has recognised the value of our network and our ongoing investment as we continue with plans to provide 5G everywhere in the UK by 2028.”

Truphone has promised that “customers will soon see even faster [mobile broadband] connectivity across even more locations, with greater network performance than ever” via EE’s network, although today’s announcement doesn’t say precisely when this upgrade will begin or how long it will take to complete.

UPDATE 2:43pm

We’ve been informed that the commercial launch will begin during the “fall” of 2022, which is somewhat of an Americanism but usually covers the period between late September and December.