Telco giants Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS) and TPG Telecom Ltd (ASX: TPM) could be about to face a new challenger in the mobile market.
According to a report in the AFR, investment bank Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG) is on the verge of launching its own mobile business.
What is Macquarie doing?
The report suggests that Macquarie will officially launch its new business, Nu Mobile, in the fiercely competitive telco market in the next few months.
Nu Mobile will specialise in mobile phone plans which are bundled with used handsets. This business model is popular in the United States, cheaper than buying new smartphones, and arguably makes a lot of sense for Macquarie.
This is because the investment bank already leases over a million smartphones to mobile retailers. These handsets are then leased to customers and returned after one or two years, which means that Macquarie already owns a large number of used handsets.
Nu Mobile has no plans to operate its own mobile infrastructure and will instead be a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), reselling access to Telstra's mobile network.
Should Telstra be concerned by Nu Mobile?
Whilst any increase in competition in the mobile market would be a negative for Telstra, I think it is the likes of Amaysim Australia Ltd (ASX: AYS) and Kogan.com Ltd (ASX: KGN) that are likely to be impacted most by this development.
Though, until the full details have been released by Macquarie it is difficult to gauge just how much of an impact Nu Mobile will have on the mobile market.
In light of this, I would suggest that investors keep their eyes peeled for the potential launch of the Nu Mobile service in the middle of the year.
