IDT launches MVNO targeting Hispanics

IDT today announced its latest telecom venture: a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) targeting the Hispanic market in the U.S.

Calling it Túyo Mobile (which combines the Spanish words for “you” and “me”), IDT is paring the service with its sizable pre-paid calling card business, which primarily targets Hispanic customers in the U.S. IDT sells 350 million calling cards in the U.S., many to foreign nationals in contact with their home countries. The Túyo pre-paid service will be available to members of that same calling card distribution network, which comprises 300,000 retail outlets, and other independent resellers, IDT officials said.

IDT isn’t the first carrier to target the Hispanic minority, a segment of more than 40 million people in the U.S. In February, a consortium of companies led by Univision launched the Movida MVNO in California and Arizona using Sprint’s CDMA network. A month later, wireless reseller and virtual network enabler InPhonic launched an offshoot of its own Liberty MVNO geared at Spanish speakers. And preceding them all came TracFone and other more traditional resellers, which don’t target the Hispanic segment specifically, but have enjoyed success in the Latino markets and skew their advertising campaigns to minority markets.

A Forrester Research study from last year found that wireless spending among Hispanics was the highest among all ethnicities in the U.S., averaging $54.65 per month, compared to $49.72 for whites and $49.25 for blacks.

Like the other Hispanic-oriented MVNOs, IDT will offer bilingual customer service and marketing and will offer discounted international per-minute rates and SMS. But the carrier also will offer more advanced features such as ringtones, games and graphics.

IDT refused to specifically name its carrier partner, saying only it would utilize the network of a major GSM wireless carrier, limiting its options to either Cingular or T-Mobile. IDT will launch the service in the fourth quarter of 2005 using Nokia and Motorola phones. Brightpoint will handle the distribution and logistics for the service while Gemplus will supply the programmed SIM cards.

While IDT’s primary telecom business is its international long distance and transport network, it has fingers in numerous telecom technologies and enterprises. In addition to the MVNO and calling card businesses, IDT owns VoIP provider Net2Phone and the assets of bankrupt broadband wireless provider Winstar. Liberty Media is a major investor in IDT, which has lead to new entertainment ventures for the company.