Virtual operators are becoming increasingly popular in the Czech Republic. Where did they come from?

Virtual operators do not have their own infrastructure and operate thanks to the infrastructure of another operator, but more than one million Czechs use them. How did they gain such popularity? We have prepared a small probe into the history of (not only) virtual mobile operators.

The term "virtual mobile operator" is becoming increasingly common in our country. You could read about their greatest advantages in our previous article, now we will focus on their origins and go back in time to the beginnings of mobile operators on our territory.

The largest mobile operators in the Czech Republic

The very first operator (and mobile phone manufacturer) to ever appear in the Czech Republic was Eurotel - in 1991. Within a few years it had gained thousands of customers - by 1994 it had almost 30,000. It was quickly followed by others - Radiomobil, which started operations as Paegas (now T-Mobile) and in 2000 a third operator called Oskar (now Vodafone).

Over time, there were several changes (Eurotel merged with Czech Telecom, which acquired the new name Telefónica O2), technological developments and the production of new mobile phones, and the three main operators continued to dominate the domestic market. Today they are known as Vodafone, T-Mobile and O2.

The advent of virtual operators

In November 2012, an important moment came - the first virtual mobile operator Bleskmobil was established in the Czech Republic, which was under the Ringier publishing house and offered prepaid services on the O2 network.

Today, there are more than 100 virtual operators in the Czech Republic, including Tesco Mobile, Sazka mobil, ČEZ mobil and Telestica. Telestica's history began on 18 September 2013 and continues to this day - unlike many other virtual operators, which came to an end after just five years. Telestica operates services on the T-Mobile network.

The new operators have had a significant impact on existing prices and the future development of the telecommunications market. Their success was also due to the Czech Telecommunications Authority, which wanted to bring new competition to the market and therefore forced the so-called "Big Three" to lease their transmitters to the virtual operators.

Why are virtual operators popular?

The most common reasons include cheaper calls, convenient data services and seamless switching from another mobile operator. Virtual operators offer complete security
and transparency - their offer is clear and for everyone.

There are several tariffs to choose from, including a children's or senior's tariff, which is designed to meet the most basic needs without the customer paying unnecessarily for something they won't use at all. Of course, the benefits offered vary from operator to operator, so it depends on what you prefer.

Not all of them have a hotline like Telestica, where you speak directly to a live person instead of a machine. Telestica also offers a free 3-month tariff for every new customer you refer.

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