Italian MVNO ZeroMobile has introduced You&Zero, a new roaming plan that enables ZeroMobile customers to talk to each other for €0.20 (US $0.26) per minute, including in Italy. The offering is available for both postpaid and prepaid customers. In addition, ZeroMobile provides several value-added services, including Apply Zero, a free app for the iPhone that permits free calls and chat with all Apply Zero users worldwide, and to call national and international fixed and mobile numbers at low prices.

Tarifica’s Take

Speaking of voice and texts, operators are finding themselves threatened in this area by competition from OTT providers, which offer free or very low-cost services. We think that operators, including MVNOs, should try to beat them at their own game, by offering their own OTT services. We congratulate ZeroMobile for doing just that. Including an app-based VoIP feature in its new plan is likely to help retention by making it clear to customers—at least the ones who have iPhones—that they do not need to leave the operator’s fold and go over to Skype or Google to gain access to significant amounts of free or extra-cheap worldwide calls and instant messages.