BRUNO OMORI

iFood Enters Brazil's MVNO Market Brazil’s leading food delivery platform, iFood, has officially entered the mobile market by launching its own branded mobile service in partnership with the mobile virtual network aggregator (#MVNA) and enabler (#MVNE) Surf Telecom. The initiative highlights the growing role of Mobile Virtual Network Operators (#MVNO) in creating customized solutions for specific segments — in this case, the 600,000 delivery workers who power iFood’s logistics network. The service, branded as the iFood SIM, will be available both as a physical SIM card and as an eSIM. It has been tailored to the daily connectivity needs of couriers, offering data packages with unlimited access to key applications such as WhatsApp, Waze, and the iFood app itself. By exempting work-related usage from data limits, the platform aims to reduce costs for delivery professionals, who depend heavily on mobile internet to complete their routes. The launch is structured in phases. Initially, iFood’s Super Diamond couriers will receive free access to a 20GB plan. Next month, workers in the Gold category will be able to subscribe for R$25 (about USD $5) per month, receiving 15GB data with the same app-based perks. By November, the plan will be extended to all active couriers on the platform. For Surf Telecom, which operates as an MVNA, MVNE, MVNO and MNO, the partnership represents an expansion of its role in Brazil’s mobile ecosystem. The company is leveraging its own spectrum assets in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, while also relying on the nationwide infrastructure of TIM, one of Brazil’s largest mobile operators. The iFood SIM will be supported on both 4G and 5G. According to Surf Telecom CEO Yon Moreira, the partnership has been in development for more than a year and is now set to become one of the operator’s flagship projects. “We expect to reach the vast majority of delivery workers in a short period of time,” he said in an interview with Teletime. “We are treating iFood as a partner of the first magnitude. The last thing a delivery worker wants is to worry about their phone. We will ensure connectivity works seamlessly.” For iFood, the initiative strengthens its benefits package for couriers, while also locking in loyalty through an essential service. This move by iFood is not unprecedented in the Brazilian market. In fact, it follows a similar playbook successfully established by its competitor, Uber, which also runs an MVNO specifically for its own gig workers in the country. Uber launched its MVNO, branded as Uber SIM (or Uber Chip), in partnership with the very same MVNA/MVNE, Surf Telecom, back in January 2021. https://lnkd.in/gBPue4Zr

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📰𝐍𝐄𝐖𝐒 | To support the expansion of small-scale solar energy solutions for households and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across Brazil, AIIB has approved a USD100 million loan to Banco Cooperativo Sicredi S.A. (Banco Sicredi), Brazil’s first cooperative bank. The investment marks AIIB’s first on-lending facility to a cooperative bank, reflecting a strategic opportunity to expand engagement with diverse financial institutions. 🔗Press release: https://lnkd.in/gS2gdZYw

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