IDTs TuYo Mobile is it going to Fly?

This month IDT launched it's newest addition to their prepaid product line, TuYo prepaid Mobile. The product is in limited release in certain large metro areas across the US and is distributed through their distribution branch, Union Telecard Alliance. Aimed mainly at the Latin market, they hope to get their popularity from aggressive long distance rates rather than features and plans. At launch they were talking about rates as low as 2 cents a minute to some South American countries like Mexico, Brazil and Argentina and 3 cents to Chile, Columbia, and Venezuela.

Union Telecard and IDT have dominated the prepaid phone card business for the last decade so I don't doubt that they will be able to translate some of their previous success into this product line as well. However, one has to wonder why so late in the game? Others like Boost mobile, Verizon Wireless and many other MVNOs have been doing this for years now! While it is possible that IDT stepped back and watched to see what worked before they took a step into the costly venture, I believe they were just a little slow on the draw.

TuYo may be a little late to the market but knowing IDT and Union Telecard, I know they will make up for lost time and leverage their popular distribution channel enough to catch up with the competition. All I can say is all of you smaller MVNOs, look out because in order to keep up with this product you are going to have to offer big discounts (Union is notorious for low discount products that actually sell) and lower your margins.

I'll keep you posted!