Cellhire is to launch its own MVNO imminently, starting in France.
The York-based dealer’s offering, called eSIMsmart, will open on Orange France’s mobile network in the first quarter of the year, which begins on May 1 for Cellhire.
The move will enable the company to benefit in the future as the traditional SIM market moves towards eSIMs instead, said Cellhire MD Matt Bennett.
“It future-proofs our business once SIMs disappear and provides a foundation for a product range in the future that we think will be very innovative,” he said.
“It [the MVNO] originated through our long-standing partnership with Orange France. We’ve had our Cellhire entity in France for over 20 years and we’ve been in discussion with Orange on how we can further improve our partnership.
“We were presented with an opportunity from being a wholesale partner in France to become an MVNO.” Bennett added that Cellhire is in discussions to debut the eSIMsmart service in the UK and beyond, remaining in dialogue with its three UK operator partners EE, Vodafone and O2.
The company has also helped O2 to connect NHS vaccination sites across the UK.
Cellhire has linked up more than 1,600 NHS vaccination sites with a range of connectivity services across multiple networks.
“COVID-19 has been the single greatest public health emergency in the history of the NHS and it’s a great honour for Cellhire to be part of the backbone of the vaccine programme,” said Bennett.
“The solutions that we are providing will help in managing the vaccination of millions of people as quickly as possible.”
