AS THE price war in the telecoms sector rages on, mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) – the original disruptors of the industry – now find themselves on the back foot.

In an increasingly unfavourable environment, MVNOs have to differentiate – or die, according to industry watchers.

MVNOs, or so-called “virtual telcos”, lease network capacity from mobile network operators (MNOs) such as Singtel : Z74 0%, StarHub : CC3 0% and M1 to provide mobile services.