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A Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) is a company that provides mobile phone service but does not have its own frequency allocation of the radio spectrum, nor does it have all of the infrastructure required to provide mobile telephone service.^[1] A company that does have frequency allocation(s) and infrastructure is known simply as a Mobile Network Operator (MNO). MVNOs are roughly equivalent to the "switchless resellers" of the traditional landline telephone market. Switchless resellers buy minutes wholesale from the large long distance companies and retail them to their customers.

An MNO that does not have a frequency spectrum allocation in a particular geographical region may operate as an MVNO in that region. MVNOs can operate using any of the mobile technologies MNOs use, such as CDMA, GSM and UMTS.

The first commercially successful MVNO in the UK was Virgin Mobile UK,^[2] launched in the United Kingdom in 1999 and now has over 4 million customers in the UK. Its success was replicated in the US, but ventures in Australia have not been so successful, and failed in Singapore, albeit with a different strategy.

An MVNO's roles and relationship to the MNO vary by market, country and the individual situations of the MNO and MVNO. In general, an MVNO is an entity or company that works independently of the mobile network operator and can set its own pricing structures, subject to the rates agreed with the MNO. Usually, the MVNO does not own any GSM, CDMA or other core mobile network related infrastructure, such as Mobile Switching Centers (MSCs), or a radio access network. Some may own their own Home Location Register, or HLR, which allows more flexibility and ownership of the subscriber's mobile phone number (MSISDN) - in this case, the MVNO appears as a roaming partner to other networks abroad, and as a "network" within its own region. Some MVNOs do tend to own or run their own Billing and Customer Care solutions known as BSS (Business Support Systems). Many use an MVNE.

Contents 1 MVNOs Classification and Marketing strategies 2 MVNOs in the World 3 MVNO, MVNE and Beyond 4 Legislation 5 See also 6 References

• Discount MVNOs provide cut-price call rates to market segments.

• Lifestyle MVNOs focus on specific niche market demographics.

• Advertising-funded MVNOs like Blyk build revenues from advertising to give a set amount of free voice, text and content to their subscribers.

There are three primary motivations for mobile operators to allow MVNOs on their networks. These are generally:

• Segmentation-Driven Strategies – mobile operators often find it difficult to succeed in all customer segments. MVNOs are a way to implement a more specific marketing mix, whether alone or with partners and they can help attack specific, targeted segments.

• Network Utilisation-Driven Strategies – Many mobile operators have capacity, product and segment needs – especially in new areas like 3G. An MVNO strategy can generate economies of scale for better network utilisation.

• Product-Driven Strategies – MVNOs can help mobile operators target customers with specialised service requirements and get to customer niches that mobile operators cannot get to.

MVNO models mean lower operational costs for mobile operators (billing, sales, customer service, marketing), help fight churn, grow average revenue per user by providing new applications and tariff plans and also can help with difficult issues like how to deal with fixed-mobile convergence by allowing MVNOs to try out more experimental projects and applications. The opportunity for mobile operators to take advantage of MVNOs generally outweighs the competitive threat.

There are currently approximately 360 planned or operational MVNOs world-wide according to consultancy firm Takashi Mobile. Countries including Algeria,The Netherlands, France, Denmark, United Kingdom, Finland, Belgium, Australia and United States have the most MVNOs. In these countries the MVNO marketplace is stablizing and there are some well-known MVNO successes. Other countries, such as Portugal, Spain, Italy, Croatia, the Baltics and Austria are just beginning to launch MVNO business models. Where there are many MVNOs in a single country, it is difficult for new entrants as the overall marketplace is highly saturated.

Blycroft Publishing announced that there were roughly 230 active MVNOs, as of June 2006. The MVNOs contained within their MVNO market study vary from consumer driven MVNOs to enterprise and data focused operations. It is a common misbelief that MVNOs only target the consumer markets. Examples of a non-consumer MVNO being Wireless Maingate and white, M2M data based MVNO´s. It is correct that the majority of MVNOs are consumer focused and most have a focus on price sensitivity as their unique selling point. It is now widely thought that the future development of MVNOs as an industry is within enterprise market developments and M2M markets.

The industry is going through stages characterized by alphabet soup nomenclature, including MVNO, rMVNO (roaming virtual networks), and MVNE (so-called Mobile Virtual Network Enabler). Most industry observers believe that over time, consolidation will take place on the market, while others will go out of business (examples are Disney Mobile in the USA or debitel in France).

One specific sector of MVNO operations focuses on international, or roaming Mobile Virtual Network Operators (rMVNO). These are distinct from domestic MVNO agreements and are intended to provide transparency of international tariffs.

Exploiting the wireless IP networks competing infrastructure bandwidth with low traffic due to the lack of Mobile Driven Content, such as GPRS, EVDO , along with specific domain knowledge software applications with specific content, other Global Service or specialized application based MVNO are also growing.

These companies are pushing their own business model as content driven MVNO. They usually host their services in one location, and provide access to their content in different countries via specialized Mobiles and existing IP coverage.

Amazon Kindle of Amazon.com, Inc offering access to books content, StakSpak of Bivision Systems, Inc offering global Push-To-Talk services, self medical analysis specialized mobiles are some emerging examples.

Such services are the results of the integration between IMS convergence and the advances in SOA flexibility for Content management software, along with available IP wireless bandwidth.

Usually a specialized client and mobile is needed in order to provide the fully integrated product to the consumer. Consumer forgot that a mobile is integrated in some case; it will only be an electronic book…

Presently many companies and regulatory bodies are strongly in favour of MVNOs. For example, in 2003, the European Commission issued a recommendation to national telecom regulators (NRAs) to examine the competitiveness of the market for wholesale access and call origination on public mobile telephone networks. The study resulted in new legislation from NRAs in countries like Ireland and France that forces operators to open up their network to MVNOs.

• MVNE

1. ^ OFCOM report
2. ^ About Virgin Mobile, viginmobile.com