In the early part of the 19th century, there were fewer options to contact the person sitting far from you. You could only send letters to them to get to know about their conditions. But due to the progressive nature of the scientific inventions, soothing was discovered that changed the history of the communication system as a whole. The invention of the telephone was really a marvelous discovery through which the world came into your drawing-room. There you can get connected to any of the people you want.
What is Straight Talk?
This is basically an MVNO that actually means Operator of a virtual network of mobile. This network works both for the CDMA and GSM sets. The company Straight talk has tied up for a joint venture with Walmart and thus Walmart has been made their special retail partner. Though this facility is available, still people can directly avail of the phones and services from straight talk. This virtual network also has several plans like the other mobile operators. They too have several plans including calls, SMS and data plans. They offer different services and plans against particular rates and also have a rate chart for that. Like the popular mobile networks, they also give unlimited plans for a stipulated time period. You can refill the plans as you do in the other networks. If you activate auto-refill, then you will get some interesting plans and offers from time to time. The monthly prices get reduced while you will opt for the auto refill packs. Moreover, the packs are not very costly for you. They almost come at the same rate as the popular network operators of the market.
Virtual Mobile Network Operators
When the article is about the virtual mobile network operators, then at first you need to know about the concept of it. It is a wireless connection for communication purposes. The service providers don’t have their own infrastructure of wireless networks for the best straight talk phone. So they have to depend on other service providers to run their mobile network. They generally enter into contracts with other network operators and obtain bulk access to the network services. To access the network services they pay wholesale rates to popular companies. The MVNO companies use their own customer support system so that the customers can be kept in a comfortable position. These companies also have their own billing systems, marketing teams, and people for sales. If any company is not capable of hiring these facilities then they also can depend on the other company of the contract.
Some Historical Talks
The history of the virtual mobile network operators is not that much old. The whole story started during the last decade of the 20th century. The European market had to go through a change due to the liberalization of the economy. Some drastic changes came into the market of telecom regulatory bodies. New laws and rules came into pictures and many new companies put their steps in the market. The networks got better with the invention of 2G technology in the network arena. The frequency bands were managed more efficiently and they were allocated to the companies in limited amounts.
Due to the invention of 2G technology, new markets got opened in Europe and all the companies got involved in the race to make their services better. Many of the new companies had to wrap up their business due to the hard competition in the market. Some of the companies made some awesome turns around to get a profitable share of the market.
By the year 2008, in the US there were about 40 companies among whom the customers had to make their choices. As per the statistics of the FCC, more than 7 percent of the mobile network operators were served by the reseller companies among which some of the MVNOs were also there. A considerable amount of 15.1 million subscribers were on the list of users by the end of the year 2006.
Types of Mobile Virtual Network Operators
Since the inception of the virtual operators of mobile networks, they have been distinguished by the service they provide and their business strategies. Some of the operators use the basic network stations and the infrastructures of the companies prevalent in the market. These services include the base stations, transceivers, the registers of the location of the home of the users and centers for switching. The package of the services and the costing are done by the companies themselves. Sometimes they are allowed to use the infrastructures of the value-added services, missed call alerts, voice mails, etc.
The MVNOs are running with the lack of spectrum licenses and thus they are bound by the contract with some other companies for the access of networks. There are different types of MVNOs value-added provide services like this. They are categorized with the thickness of the layer of technology that it uses from the host network.
-
Branded Reseller
These MVNOs are referred to as the skinny MVNOs due to their hardcore dependency on the facilities of the Mobile serviced networks. These types of companies don’t have any kind of infrastructure of their own and thus they have to depend completely on the MNOs to get their markets. Even the management part like marketing, customer services also are dependent on other companies.
-
Service Providers
These companies are not completely dependent on the MNOs for the services they provide. They are in the market with their own customer support network, marketing and distribution team along with the sales and operations manpower. These companies also have the ability to set their own tariffs but the retail prices for the customers.
-
Providers of Enhanced Services
These types of companies are known as thick service providers as they have a more enhanced technological backup support for their customers. These companies have their own infrastructures for their business.
-
Full MVNO
These are the companies that have their own network operating technology like the other MNOs.