MVNO, vMVNO and MVNE Terms and Industry Insight

Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO)

A mobile service operator that does not have its own licensed spectrum and does not have the infrastructure to provide mobile service to its customers (i.e., it does not own the network on which its voice and data traffic is carried). Instead, MVNOs lease wireless capacity from pre-existing mobile service providers and establish their own brand names different from the providers. MVNOs typically offer subscription-based voice and data service, and the customers are not doing business with underlying wireless provider but with the MVNO brand.

Mobile Virtual Network Enablers (MVNE)

A MVNE does not have a relationship with end-user customers. Instead, a MVNE provides infrastructure and services to enable MVNO’s to offer services and have a relationship with end-user customers.

Virtual Mobile Network Operator (vMVNO)

A vMVNO is an MVNO that has approved indirect sales relationships with the network providors. The vMVNO model works well for companies that are not sure what carrier will in the end suite their needs best or companies who want access to all carriers but can not go direct to all carriers due to the increased load on human or capital resources. The vMVNO model saves companies millions of dollars and allows them to start selling literally within 2-3 weeks.

CDMA

Short for Code-Division Multiple Access, a digital cellular technology that uses spread-spectrum techniques. Unlike competing systems, such as GSM, that use TDMA, CDMA does not assign a specific frequency to each user. Instead, every channel uses the full available spectrum. Individual conversations are encoded with a pseudo-random digital sequence. CDMA consistently provides better capacity for voice and data communications than other commercial mobile technologies, allowing more subscribers to connect at any given time, and it is the common platform on which 3G technologies are built.

TDMA

Short for Time Division Multiple Access, a technology for delivering digital wireless service using time-division multiplexing (TDM). TDMA works by dividing a radio frequency into time slots and then allocating slots to multiple calls. In this way, a single frequency can support multiple, simultaneous data channels. TDMA is used by the GSM digital cellular system.

GSM

Short for Global System for Mobile Communications, one of the leading digital cellular systems. GSM uses narrowband TDMA, which allows eight simultaneous calls on the same radio frequency. GSM was first introduced in 1991. As of the end of 1997, GSM service was available in more than 100 countries and has become the de facto standard in Europe and Asia.

3GPP

Short for the 3rd Generation Partnership Project, 3GPP is a collaboration agreement that was established in December 1998. The collaboration agreement brings together a number of telecommunications standards bodies. The original scope of 3GPP was to produce globally applicable Technical Specifications and Technical Reports for a 3rd Generation Mobile System based on evolved GSM core networks and the radio access technologies that they support (i.e., Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA) both Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) and Time Division Duplex (TDD) modes). The scope was subsequently amended to include the maintenance and development of the Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) Technical Specifications and Technical Reports including evolved radio access technologies. [Source: 3GPP Web site]

ANI

Short for automatic number identification, a service that provides the telephone number of an incoming call. ANI is used for a variety of functions -- by receiving the incoming telephone number, telephone companies can direct a call to the proper long distance carrier's equipment; it can help identify the caller's address to speed response time to 911 calls; and it can route an 800 call to the nearest vendor. ISDN, the standards for transmissions on telephone lines, supports ANI.

ARPU

Short for Average Revenue Per User. Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) is a financial performance benchmark in the telecom industry that measures the average monthly revenue generated per customer. Originally used by telephone carriers, the term has been adapted to other telecom industries and is now used by carriers providing services such as Internet connection, cable services, cellphone, pager, VoIP services and so on.

ACD

Short for Automatic Call Distributor, a telephone facility that handles incoming calls and manages them based on a database of handling instructions.

ALI

Short for Automatic Location Identification, a technology advanced by the FCC to help identify and locate the source of emergency 911 calls made from mobile phones.

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TDMA