The World of Mobile / Cellular Services
If you’re new to the world of mobile telecommunications operators it can be intimidating. For example, what’s the difference between a Full Mobile Virtual Network Operator (Full/Thick MVNO) and a Light Mobile Virtual Network Operator (Light/Thin MVNO)? How about a Mobile Virtual Network Enabler (MVNE) and a Mobile Virtual Network Aggregator (MVNA)? And what exactly are Internet of Things (IoT) services? Or Machine 2 Machine (M2M) services?
If you find this all very confusing, don’t worry! Let’s go over the basics.
We will start with the name. Mobile Operators go by many names — wireless service providers, wireless carriers, mobile network carriers, mobile network operators, telecom operators, cellular operators, telecom providers, etc. Whatever you choose to call them, in principle Mobile Operators are licensed operators of radio spectrum and own and operate the infrastructure required to offer wireless communications services like Voice, Data, and SMS.
Mobile / Cellular Operators control the following elements of their business:
From Past to Present
Back in the day, most countries had only two or three Mobile / Cellular Operators, many of which were government owned and operated. This was not an ideal telecommunications environment. Onerous regulations and rigid laws failed to encourage competition, and consumers suffered for it.
Fortunately, things are changing quite rapidly.
More and more, countries are allowing Mobile Operators to open their networks to other companies, leading to robust telecommunications environments and the creation of new businesses with innovative mobile services and offerings. This means that they need to have their own backoffice solution to create and manage their own brand.
For instance, banks, big-box retailers, and supermarket chains have all worked with Mobile Operators to create their own unique branded mobile offerings. These are called Mobile Virtual Network Operators, or MVNOs for short. There are roughly three types of MVNOs:
- Branded Resellers
- Light / Thin MVNO – Enhanced Service Providers
- Full / Thick MVNO – Full infrastructure MVNOs
A company can also offer Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) services to other companies without becoming a service provider. This is called a Mobile Virtual Network Enabler (MVNE). These company’s set up an environment on which they can host and operate multiple MVNOs, each offering their own unique services.
Last but not least, the Internet of Things (IoT) or Machine 2 Machine (M2M). The difference between IoT and M2M is simple, IoT is connectivity between users/ devices and M2M is connectivity between machines / systems. Both are leveraging Mobile / Cellular Operator and MVNO networks, businesses can build sophisticated IoT deployments and platforms that connect devices, cars, appliances, and more.
Syntegra Takes Care of All Your Needs
At Syntegra, we’ve developed a service delivery platform suitable for all options. Our Mobile Services, which enables telecom providers to deliver telco-grade services to end users, makes it easy to launch your own:
Compliant with industry-standard telecommunications protocols, our Mobile Service Suite integrates seamlessly with network infrastructure from the world’s top vendors, creating new possibilities for the telco environment.
In addition, Syntegra provides optional expansion possibilities via the Syntegra SmartConnect, which offers data offloading opportunities.
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