“MVNE, vs MNO, vs MVNO… Help!”

According to the latest market research, “The global mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) market size is expected to reach USD 112.0 billion by 2025, owing to the increasing demand for low tariff network services among consumers.”

First, if you’re late to the party, let’s make sure that everyone understands the difference between the two. An MVNE is a Mobile Virtual Network Enabler. It is reliant on an MNO, a Mobile Network Operator for connectivity, and usually on MVNO’s (Mobile Virtual Network Operators) for customers. Often saddled between the two, an MVNE will provide infrastructure, network enablement services, and administration and operations support.

For many MVNOs, this sounds like a quick win. Leverage the MNOs connectivity with the MVNE’s expertise and support, and you’re ready to serve your own customers in a fraction of the time. Right?

Well… Let’s look at how it works in practice.

Who is the MVNE’s Top Priority?

This is really the main question to ask yourself, because with an MVNE, you are fully reliant. Not only are you dependent on the MVNE for the connectivity and network infrastructure itself, but also for the service levels you provide to your customers, and the features and offerings you can launch.

An MVNE is a lean operating model, which is by nature most concerned with efficiency and trimming the fat. While this might work well for their own bottom line, this can have a negative impact on your own business needs. Let’s say you want to move into supporting new 5G use cases, or edge computing. You will be reliant on the MVNE to be making that move itself at the back end, which may not yet be on its roadmap.

If you do manage to get your business strategy off the ground under the constraints of the MVNE, they will be looking to benefit as much as possible from your own hard work, optimizing their margins against your turnover to make the best cut possible. After all, for them, that’s just smart business.

Another important thing to consider is your own end customers and their expectations of you. They don’t care who is powering your controls, they only know you – and their expectations are growing all the time. Today, the best customer experience and the ability to provide quick access to the latest value-added services is the true recipe for customer loyalty. Once gained, this loyalty has a direct impact on how your brand is perceived, and how easily you can attract new users.

However, without control over the service levels that you’re providing for your customers, as well as the ability to handle preventative maintenance or updates and improvements on your own schedule – you’re in danger of losing your user base to the competition.

Is the Answer, to Cut out the Middleman?

At the end of the day, these same issues are why it doesn’t make sense to rely on a single MNO either, or to utilize a partial MVNO solution where you pass over the connectivity or elements of the hardware to a third-party. Rather than turn to an MNO for core network connectivity, why not utilize the latest technology to do it all under your own roof?

Thick or thin MVNO? No matter what you choose, you are still dependent on a single MNO.

Traditionally, using a full MVNO business model meant immense up-front costs for network infrastructure, and heavy maintenance requirements too. You might have simplified the number of steps to fixing a problem for your customers, but you didn’t make it any easier to ward off these issues ahead of time. Today, you can manage your own core network, leveraging our strong existing partnerships with local networks around the globe for all OpEx and zero CapEx, and a much wider range of options for improving customer experience than ever before.

Our turnkey solution is just as simple as creating an agreement with an MVNE or an MNO, and yet it is a true one stop shop for FULL MVNO. With one commercial agreement, we include all the core network elements that you need, through a cutting-edge solution on the cloud. We partner with MNOs around the world, and through a single API, we connect you to local outbreaks in more than 50 locations globally.

As you are not reliant on a single provider, you can utilize advanced features such as autonomous switching or auto-healing, so that your customers never lose connectivity or performance. The solution is also integrated with our flexible BSS platform, that empowers you to build the perfect business model for your own roadmap, without being tied to the whims of your MVNE or any single MNO.

It really is as easy as it sounds, and believe it or not, you could be operational in just a few months. Our next article will discuss the practical steps to build your own MVNO. Ready to start your own journey? Let’s discuss how we can provide the platform for your success.