Pakorn Pannachate, chief marketing officer, said yesterday that the market for mobile-phone service still had room to grow for mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) like The White Space.

The company has zeroed in on market niches to avoid the fierce competition among mobile-service operators.

Yesterday Penguin introduced “Senior” and “Youngster” SIM cards for those at both ends of the age spectrum to make phone calls as much as to surf the Internet for chatting and connecting to social media.

The two cards come with prepaid packages of calls and Internet usage at a monthly cost of up to Bt300 for seniors and Bt199-Bt399 for youngsters.

The Senior SIM also offers a free LMG Insurance policy paying up to Bt10,000 for loss of life due to accidents.

Penguin aims to break even with a million users next year.

The White Space has registered capital of Bt421 million.

It is investing Bt100 million on business development, of which Bt40 million is set for marketing campaigns and activities. Its average revenue per user is Bt140 per month.

It has a partnership with CAT Telecom and uses the state enterprise’s third-generation network on the 850-megahertz spectrum to provide its cellular service.

The country has some 30 MVNOs with a National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) licence, but only 10 or fewer are active.

The White Space was founded by a group of former executives of Total Access Communication (DTAC). It has 1.2 million mobile-phone numbers, of which 700,000 were recently assigned to it by the NBTC.