Blyk, the ad-funded mobile firm, has confirmed long-standing speculation that it is to move away from its MVNO model by striking a deal with Vodafone in the Netherlands, reports the Financial Times today. Rather than running the business as an MVNO – as it does currently in the UK via Orange’s network – Blyk will aim to form closer partnerships with its operator partners. According to the report, Vodafone will provide the mobile infrastructure, while Blyk provides technology and advertising sales for an own-branded service, and shares revenue with the operator. Blyk founder Pekka Ala-Pietila said the firm had received an “overwhelming amount of requests” to run mobile operators’ entire advertising businesses in Europe and Asia, and was close to signing a similar deal in the UK. He noted that such partnerships would enable Blyk to grow faster than as an MVNO, as well as removing its infrastructure costs.

In May, Blyk’s UK CEO, Antti Öhrling, confirmed that the UK MVNO model would not be replicated in either Belgium or the Netherlands, two markets where the company already has teams in place and is planning to launch. The shift in strategy was seen by some as evidence of a slowdown in advertising revenues due to the recession, a claim denied by Blyk. Launched in the UK in September 2007, Blyk offers free calls and SMS to 16 to 24 year-olds in return for users accepting advertisements from leading brands. By September 2008, the firm had signed up around 200,000 UK subscribers. Blyk told Mobile Business Briefing in February that it was in talks with numerous mobile operators in Europe, Asia and the Americas regarding partnerships.