To deliver the same results through banner advertising on a mobile phone, he said, you have to send 125 million banners, where you'd get the same results you would when you send a million messages.
"Obviously, that's the direction where we should be going. People don't need unnecessary stuff in their mobile phones. They need relevant, good, contextual advertising, and mobile messaging can bring this to people."
He doesn't see mobile operators missing out on any revenue opportunities to other parties, such as the over-the-top players going direct to the customers, with something like the App Store model.
"I feel that the Apples and Googles of the world do see mobile operators quite rightly, in some cases, as an unnecessary evil. And they'll try to get a basic model that wouldn't have mobile operators in it. But I think that the mobile internet as such, the dumb-pipe question, really addresses that issue.
"The thing with mobile operators is that they can develop much closer relationship with their customers than the so-called internet players. And that's the strength the operators should really utilize."
Looking at what the operators have that advertisers need that will make them a critical part of this new value chain, rling pointed out that the key is they know their customers.
"They don't know always that they know them. That's really an industry issue. But that's what's critical: that I do know you, that it's you who are using this service. You have opted into this. I have your profile. I know what you're interested in, and I can address those interests."
The advertisers are interested in this, he said as they don't want to address people that aren't interest in their advertising.
"Our experience is that people using our service like it with advertising more than without advertising, because we have established a dialogue with them. So we know what you like, and we ask you questions. 'Would you like this? Would you like that?' And then when you answer, we can respond. And that dialog is something that has been missing in the operator world."
Blyk started in 2006 as an MVNO in the UK. Last year it moved from that retail model to a wholesale model, partnering with operators to give them the capability to quickly open up additional revenue streams.