Optus has confirmed that it will be cutting ties with MVNO Woolworths Mobile, with the supermarket giant set to stop selling its Woolworths-branded prepaid SIM cards from October 1.
Speculation started over the weekend after a Woolworths retail staff member posted on the Whirlpool forum a notice stating that the Woolworths/Optus license agreement would be ending October 1.
The end is night
So while Woolworths Mobile customers won't be drastically effected until next year, it seems like we may be witnessing the end of MVNOs as we know them.
Just two months ago, Vodafone Australia CEO Bill Morrow told TechRadar that he didn't think that there was a market MVNOs anymore.
"I don't believe that MVNOs, the way they are structured today, are going to be around too much longer … I think it is quite normal, and is market forces doing what they should do," he said.
His comments came soon after ISPOne went into administration, causing Kogan Mobile, which worked on Telstra's network, to collapse.
Optus and Vodafone MVNOs Red Bull and Crazy John's also shut its services earlier this year.
"This is a fundamentally different market place for MVNOs. Mark my words, there's going to be far fewer," Morrow had said to us.
- Here are some alternative MVNOs.