Blyk, the world’s first ad-funded mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) has announced the launch of its UK service. The announcement was made at a press launch event in London by company founders Pekka Ala-Pietilä and Antti Öhrling.
(see a video of the event!)

Blyk is an invitation-only MVNO that will enable brands to communicate with the notoriously hard to target 16-24 year old market. It has spent the last year developing its service, and has shown “exceptionally high” response rates, “with some testers reportedly missing the service at the end of the trial.”

Speaking at the network’s launch in London today, Antti Öhrling said: “We found that what is 90% familiar and 10% new leads to the best user experience. So, the Blyk communications formats are based on the most dominant and most familiar pattern among 16-24s: Getting a message and responding to it. Both picture and text.”

Pekka Ala-Pietilä added: “Our free offer is 217 texts and 43 minutes every month and this could mean no more phone bills for up to 4.5 million young people in the UK – with no contract. We have the brands that want to speak to them too, with more than 40 already signed up for the launch. This group represents almost every industry sector there is.”

If you want to text or talk more than that, you can top-up at 10p/text and 15p/minute

Full press release HERE.

Special: For those of you who would like to see a video of the Blyk introduction event in London, click here.

Blyk Previously announced deals with advertisers and that it will be using the Orange network in the UK .