Origin, theory, implementation and future of MVNO

In recent years, the term MVNO, an abbreviation of Mobile Virtual Network Operator is becoming famous in India. As like all other technologies and practices, this also made its entry late into India. At present, it is one of fast growing market strategy in telecom sector.

Objective of this document: he main ob!ective of the document is to have a wide view about MVNO concept from technical point of view. It also has some light on the business area of this successful concept. "o readers can e#pect more technical data and descriptions than non technical discussions.

What MVNO actually means? As the abbreviation clarifies, MVNO stands for first letters of Mobile Virtual Network Operator. $es, it is a virtual mobile operator. Virtual implies for not having any dedicated basic infrastructure for operation. hey don%t have licensed fre&uency bands, no base stations, no switching centres and no transmission media. 'ot of &uestions may arise for the reader such as, if a MVNO does not have these facilities, then what else they own to run the business( he answer is very simple. hey have their own charging system, optional )'* and optional +all centre. Among these re&uisites, charging systems are vital for a MVNO. hey purchase the airtime from the MNO ,Mobile Network Operator- as bulk and resell them according to the agreed tariffs with the actual MNO. hus they are also called as Mobile resellers. hey can be literally compared to a parasite but providing less favour to the host and in fact provide some indirect pressures also. his business model, evolved in .urope had good response all over the world including America, Australia and Asia. In spite of successful MVNOs, there were also losers in countries like "ingapore and Australia.

Origin of MVNO:

hanks to "ir *ichard /ranson, +.O of Virgin group. Virgin mobile launched by virgin group is world%s first MVNO. It was launched in 01 by 2333 and now it has more than 45 lakhs customers in 01. It is really one of successful business strategy of a successful business man, pioneering this business plan before everyone and still continues to be market leader in MVNO. As of 6ebruary 7553, there are over 455 active MVNOs operated by over 895 companies. Around 255 companies are planning to make new ventures and about :7 brands run by various MNOs pretending to be MVNOs. +ountries including ;ermany, Netherlands, 6rance, <enmark, 01, 6inland, /elgium, Australia and 0" have the most MVNOs. In these countries the MVNO marketplace is stabili=ing and there are some well>known MVNO successes. Other countries, such as ?ortugal, "pain, Italy, +roatia, /altics, India, +hile, Ireland and Austria are !ust beginning to launch MVNO business models.

Ideology behind the MVNO business model: MVNOs can operate with any available technology like ;"M or +<MA, making them more resistant for market response. Another highlight feature of MVNOs is they can set their own tariff plans sub!ect to accommodating MNO. A MVNO%s role and relationship to the MNO vary by market, country and the individual situations of MVNO and MNO. .ven rMVNO ,roaming mobile virtual network operator- is also available for roaming services. In this type of service, a V'N ,Visitor 'ocal Number- will be allocated for each country the subscriber visits. In this aspect, MVNOs are e#ploring all possibilities to work with MNOs. .ven well known MNOs are trying to declare their own MVNO brands. elia in "weden operate a MVNO brand @+all MeA. /randed MNVOs or /MVNO are also available like Virgin mobiles. he main difference is more creative and customer orientation from /MVNO than ordinary MNOs.

erminologies used: here are several nomenclatures used in this field such as MVNO, rMVNO and MVN. ,Mobile Virtual Network .nabler-. Out of them MVNO and MVN. literally serve for similar cause and rMVNO alone differs significantly by providing roaming service and transparency in international tariffs. MVN.s can be termed as consultants that provide solution for a MVNO setup and operation.

Implementation:

'et%s have an e#ample of MVNO implementation. his is one of real time implementation of MVNO. ;eneral conditions and assumptions are.

2.

he MNO has both 7; and 8; network. 2. Name of MVNO is assumed as "ample and supports +AM.' ?h7. 3. Name of MNO is assumed as )ost and support +AM.' ?h8B. 4. MVNO supports only prepaid subscriptions. 5. he MVNO has IN and charging systems, back office such as call centres and customer centres only. 9. It does not have )'*, V'* and other switching infrastructure. 7. he "IM used is 871 8; card compliant with ;"M 22.22. C. It shares same IM"I series of MNO but dedicated IM"I range. 3. It shares the )'* of MNO but with dedicated number series. 25. It uses the roaming operator agreements of MNO for outbound roaming. 22. MVNO is allowed to use only 7; network. 27. MVNO has to use own IV* platform. 28. MM", 8;, call forwarding and call barring not allowed. 24. he MNO has twin " ? configuration and all other network nodes are connected with the " ?s. 2D. he MVNO has twin "+? with redundancy feature and in turn they are connected to " ?. !in" configuration: 2. 7 individual signalling links between two " ? and two MVNO "+?s. 7. 7 individual .2 voice links between two ;M"+s and two MVNO IV* nodes. "ignalling configuration is inevitable but does the voice link between MVNO IV* and ;M"+ is necessary( E $es, as per the configuration the MVNO wants to play their own announcements and IV* content for subscribers so they have customised IV* nodes. In order to play announcements, voice circuits are needed and it should be connected to node that supports 94kbps traffic. As MNO has two ;M"+s namely ;M"+2 and ;M"+7, the MNO IV* nodes are connected to MNO%s ;M"+ nodes.

Net#or" diagram:

MNO

GMSC1

GMSC2

MVNO

'et us analyse the network structure and implementation one by one.

IM$I series: As mentioned earlier, the MVNO uses separate IM"I series with same M++ and MN+ values of MNO. In this e#ample, IM"I series of )ost is 2784D########## and the allotted IM"I series of "ample is 2784D%&########. Abiding to standard IM"I structure of M++>MN+>M"IN where length of M++ is 8, MN+ is 7 and M"IN is 25, it can be calculated that about 33333333 subscribers can be added by "ample MVNO. As the first two digits of M"IN are fi#ed, the other eight digits can only be used for subscribers. hat%s reason for 33333333 ,with length C-. ?ractically, these much numbers are not allotted to customer as it involved performance issues.

$ignalling point $'F 6or every physical node a signalling point code is re&uired. Normally in redundancy configuration of " ? or any other nodes that work in parallel concept called @Alias point codeA is used which has a common point code in addition to e#isting two individual codes. In our case let the point codes be 7>7582 E MVNO "+?2, 7>7587 E MVNO "+?7, 7>7585 E Alias ?oint code he standard format for signalling point is NI>"?+ where NI is network indicator. In sample case, NI has value as 7 that allow treating message in National format.

(lobal itles ( F ;lobal titles are address with international format that are used to identify individual nodes. Normally ; will be uni&ue for every operator and it has same format of the number series of the network. In our pro!ect, we have only "+? node that has signalling connectivity with the MNO network. 'ist of ; s allotted are

2784###722> +A?G"+?2, 2784###727 E +A?G"+?7, 2784###725 E Alias ;

2784###822 E MA?G"+?2, 2784###827 E MA?G"+?7, 2784###825 E Alias ; 2784###222 E "+G"M"2, 2784###227 E "+G"M"7, 2784###225 E Alias ;

0sage of +A? ; is mandatory as the nodes are "+? nodes and they should have them. here raises &uestions about the usage of MA? and "+G"M" ; s. he MVNO supports +AM.' ?hase 7 but in case if they re&uire online charging for "M", then a new approach has to be made.

Online $M$ charging for outbound roaming #ith )*'& environment: +AM.' ?hase 7 does not support online charging for "M" and supports only for voice. It can be achieved by using MA? for "M" management.<uring MO>"M" scenario the short message will first reach M"+ and M"+ in turn delivers to "M"+. "imilarly during M >"M" scenario, the "M is deposited in "M"+. It will interrogate )'* for the current V'* of subscriber and route the "M to the subscriber. <uring M case, the "M"+ will get @*outing Information re&uestA to know the current V'* of subscriber. Hith the response of the re&uest, the current location can be identified and charging can be made accordingly. "imilarly for MO case, the MA? message will have the originating M"+ address that can be used for online charging.

<ue to this reason, the MVNO is allotted around 3 ; addresses. It%s up to the hardware configuration of MVNO so that the usage of 3 ; can be properly planned and utili=ed.

+$$, service codes: /eing MVNO, the main focus is to have customi=ed user interface for customers. In sample pro!ect, the 0""< services are handled by a dedicated 0""< gateway at MVNO end. As 0""< uses MA? layer for all transactions, the same MA? ; is used for 0""< routing. ,efinitions to be made in -!.: 2. 7. he numbers allotted for MVNO has to be defined with proper IM"I. he numbers should be defined with proper trigger data such as service key. he service key is like additional data to access a database. 3. 0""< service codes for MVNO has to be defined with the 0""< gateway address as alias MA? address 2784###825. 4. ?roper trigger for MO and M has to be defined with actual ; address. D. ;lobal title for MA? messaging should be defined.

,efinitions to be made in M$): 2. "hort codes for IV* and customer care should be routed through the voice trunks from ;M"+ and IV* nodes. 7. All 3 ;lobal titles address has to be defined and routed to " ?. 8. As IM"I series is same as that of MNO, no special IM"I definition re&uired. 4. As both MO and M have triggers, no specific definition is re&uired in M"+. /ut based on vendor type, the mentioned definition varies. In case of .ricsson no detailed definitions needed for +AM.'. 6or other vendors, it is necessary and also enables e#tended control.

Interesting facts about MVNO: 2. On one side, MVNO helps to utili=e the radio resource of MNO more effectively. On other side, they also tend to be competitor for MNO. 7. MVNO can fi# tariffs only after approval from MNO. 8. 6irst MVNO is Virgin in 01. 4. In India, first MVNO was by Virgin group and it used "' , ata ele "ervices 'td- resources. D. Many other MVNO such as 'ycatel are entering Indian market. 6. MVNO concept was failure in "ingapore after 3I22 terror attacks. :. Oman has launched the region%s first MVNO. 6rendi mobile uses OmanMobile%s infrastructure. C. .ven MNO of some countries are thinking of launching own MVNO brand both inside their territory and overseas. 3. As per report, about C3 fresh MVNO launches are getting ready for 7553. 25. <ue to MVNO, the competition gets tough and operators are forced to slash prices.

his document deals more with circuit related traffic and has very little or no information on data traffic like ;?*" and .<;. for MVNO subscribers. he document is based on real implementation with values changed.

6or additional information, &uestions and comments, *amanathan "undaram #potentialramJgmail.com 6irst +opy E 73>59>7553

*dditional references:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MVNO httpFIIwww.littlespringsdesign.comIblogIblogI755:I25I85Imvno>failuresI httpFIIen.wikipedia.orgIwikiI0""<G;ateway httpFIIwww.mvnodirectory.comIinde#.html http://www.itu.int/itunews/issue/2001/0 /!"no.ht!# httpFIIwww.sim7travel.comIproductIoverview.asp httpFIIwww.perlegos.comIservicesIservices.htm httpFIIwww.funsms.netIsmsGtutorial.htm