How Emtel’s world-first MNO innovation changed data roaming forever

Mobile network operator (MNO) and technology company Emtel has served the telecoms needs of people and businesses throughout Mauritius since 1989. In that time it’s earned a global reputation for groundbreaking innovation, including the world’s first travel eSIM service by an MNO, via its Powered by Breeze partnership with eSIM Go.

Emtel was quick to spot the emergence of travel eSIMs as a new product category, and recognize its potential game-changing impact on Mauritians wishing to stay connected abroad.

Kresh Goomany, Emtel’s CEO, had used travel eSIMs himself, and his experiences inspired a project to explore how the company could capitalize on travel eSIMs to benefit its customers. Emtel found that travel eSIMs:

• Offered a more convenient way to consume mobile data abroad than sourcing a local SIM card at the destination
• Were available from online merchants at far more affordable rates than traditional roaming
• Could become a new income stream that compensated for declining roaming revenue
• Were already starting to be adopted by Mauritians; initially business travelers

“Traditional data roaming is too expensive and the other alternatives are inconvenient. We wanted to investigate the market to understand if this was something that we as an operator could provide, and this led us to evaluate several options including eSIM Go.”

No MNO anywhere in the world had a travel eSIM service for Emtel to emulate. A partner had to be found that could create a seamless Emtel-branded travel eSIM offering integrated with Emtel’s digital customer experience, ensure high quality connectivity everywhere, and provide truly global coverage with competitive rates in specific countries and regions.

From the outset, Emtel found eSIM Go to be highly responsive and collaborative. This set the tone for the partnership, allowing Emtel to take full advantage of unique eSIM Go capabilities including:

• Co-branded white-label solution: “eSIM Voyaz by Emtel, Powered by Breeze”
• Fully managed tech, development and updates
• Round-the-clock customer service and support
• Rapid deployment that didn’t necessitate capex or opex
• Convenient, bilingual (English/French) digital customer experience
• Launch and post-launch expert marketing advice
• Rapid rollout of new Unlimited data bundles (June 2024)
• Collaboration on seasonal promotions

“Everything about the experience is beneficial to the end user. Rather than using a high-cost roaming service, or buying a SIM card when abroad, eSIM Go equipped us to provide Mauritians with a seamless online service from Emtel – a brand they trust and can call upon if they have a question.”

The eSIM Voyaz service enjoyed a positive reception at its launch, with strong incremental growth ever since.

• Repeat business: 40% of orders are made by returning customers
• Global penetration: a substantial and growing number of orders are made from outside Mauritius
• Customer acquisition: via selling travel eSIMs to subscribers of other mobile networks
• Low customer support overhead: less than 4% of orders require any customer engagement

“The collaboration between our teams has been great and the user experience is seamless. I’m very happy and I’d recommend anybody who is looking at eSIM solutions to work with eSIM Go.”

Significant growth is expected as more Mauritians acquire eSIM-compatible devices. Emtel is also targeting loyalty initiatives like reward coupons, more promotion of the eSIM Voyaz service, and collaborating with eSIM Go on customized plans including global eSIMs.

“The collaboration between our teams has been great and the user experience is seamless. I’m very happy and I’d recommend anybody who is looking at eSIM solutions to work with eSIM Go.”