T-Mobile seems to be on a roll when it comes to its network arrangements. Earlier this week, Dish and T-Mobile said they’ve agreed to new terms related to their master network services agreement.
The same day, Reach Mobile said it struck an agreement that extends a multi-year MVNO agreement through which T-Mobile will continue to serve as the network for Reach Mobile’s nationwide subscribers. The companies didn't reveal terms of the deal.
As part of the T-Mobile announcement, Reach Mobile talked about how the companies will use the ReachNext platform to accelerate and streamline how businesses bring network-based services to market. In this case, T-Mobile wholesale customers can use ReachNext as a one-stop shop for launching various services, including mobile or fixed wireless access (FWA).
This differs from your typical MVNE/MVNO relationship, according to Reach Mobile CEO Harjot Saluja. Sure, Reach has access to T-Mobile’s network for different use cases, but T-Mobile also has access to the Reach platform that can be used to differentiate services in the market.
WideOpenWest (WOW) recently launched a mobile service using the T-Mobile network, and Reach’s platform is behind that service. In fact, WOW told Fierce that the company was “very pleased” that they were able to bring this option to market in less than six months with the help of Reach.
That kind of deal helps T-Mobile power new launches in the market, and it helps Reach build on its client relationships.
In total, Reach Mobile has integrated with more than 50 carriers across 75 countries and currently supports 40 million monthly active users with its first use case, toll-free data. It employs about 120 people now and growing.
The way Reach Mobile competes, it increasingly looks like it will be running up against companies like Amdocs.
While it’s true that Reach Mobile offers an MVNE service, “it’s way more than an MVNE” in the traditional sense, Saluja said.
For one thing, “we are focused across multiple use cases, so it’s not just mobile service. It’s mobile, it’s fixed wireless, it’s IoT, it’s failover internet” and other services, he said.
In addition, the scope in which Reach Mobile operates is much broader. “I guess think of the ‘un-carrier’ movement,” but it’s in wholesale. The idea is to simplify the experience for partners, with the term they’re using being “Wholesale-as-a-Service,” he said.
That means it’s going to be significantly faster for a carrier’s client to launch an IoT or fixed wireless service.
"Our wholesale partners are looking for a rapid and seamless path to offer innovative wireless services. The combination of T-Mobile's powerful nationwide network with the ReachNext platform provides the inherent flexibility and scalability necessary for our wholesale partners to deploy these services quickly and easily with immediate monetization benefits," said T-Mobile Wholesale SVP Daniel Thygesen in a statement.
Saluja previously was a general manager at Airvana. After that, he was CEO of Datami until the end of 2019, joining Reach Mobile in January 2020.
He declined to comment on Reach’s relationship with Plum, a wireless wholesale and white-label provider that’s connected to the Ultra and Mint Mobile brands. Plum also uses the T-Mobile network.