It's looking like not all trendy MVNOs are dying off. Blyk, a free (sort of), ad-supported mobile service for text-happy 16- to 24-year-olds says that it topped the 100,000-subscriber mark, its first-year target, in just six months.

"Six months ago there were a lot of people doubting whether it would work," Blyk COO Leif Fagelstedt told Telecoms.com. "But now that has turned around. I don't get the sense today that there are responses coming from operators saying that they don't want Blyk on their network."

The MVNO offers limited free minutes and texts per month in exchange for receiving ads, after which subscribers have to start paying. It launched in September in the UK and plans to go live in the Netherlands in the second half of this year before venturing into other European markets.