Telio goes white label

Telio has announced a white label partnership for the Netherlands with InterNLnet (www.internlnet.nl), to go live in Q1 2005. The press release (http://www.telio.no/about/?436)contains no mention of pricing, but I assume it will be highly attractive. In Telio's home market of Norway, unlimited fixed line calling to all of Western Europe and North America costs EUR19.50 per month. This deal appears to initially cover only calling within the Dutch market, but it will be interesting to see if the Europe/North America offer is extended to InterNLnet's subs over time. I am also curious to see if this is followed by similar deals in other markets.

I have until recently been fairly unconvinced about the value of white label/co-branded offers of this type, but Skype's experience in Taiwan has given me a new perspective. Recall that when Skype revealed its geographic user breakdown recently (http://eurotelcoblog.blogspot.com/2004/10/daiwa-eurotelcoblog-no.html), Taiwan, where it has its only co-branded deal with PChome, came in at number two, despite being a smaller market overall than many others which appear further down the list.