How does the virtual mobile operator (MVNO) work with the greatest benefit for subscribers and for themselves?

There is an opinion on the market that the virtual mobile operator lives easily - it is not necessary to maintain the equipment, it is not necessary to receive frequencies - pay the iron owner, attract subscribers and make a profit. We know for sure that this is a one-sided and unprofessional approach.

In previous blog posts, we talked in general about the essence of virtual mobile operators (MVNO), as well as multi-SIM technology. As part of the new post, we would like to talk about an application solution that makes life easier for virtual operators, provides comfortable communication for subscribers in projects of all our operators and allows you to significantly reduce the cost of traffic.

The main objective of our company is the creation of tools and technologies that provide the possibility of forming optimal models based on GSM technology. GSM is still alive and alive, and we try not only to be on the crest of technology, but also to create them, using the potential of mobile communication to the maximum. Another challenge is to make products understandable and user friendly. That is what we were guided by when working on a new application solution.

By tradition, a bit of theory - the pricing of telecom operators

Developing multi-SIM technology, about which we also wrote on Habré, we offer our MVNO clients to load the most interesting and profitable profiles to their SIM cards in accordance with their needs. Operators are primarily interested in increasing profits and the possibility of expanding the customer base. This can be achieved by offering low rates. Creating such a tariff in the MVNO environment is not always an easy task. First of all, because the virtual operator uses foreign capacities (a large MNO operator), depends on the tariffs of the owner of the equipment and competes immediately with mobile operators.
How to create a carrier tariff? In the case of a traditional cellular operator, the price is formed according to this scheme (general idea):

')
Obviously, the virtual operator part of the cost of the structure falls, but marketing costs increase because the strategy of skimming and grinding the subscriber base to the virtual operator is most often unavailable, he is forced to choose a market penetration strategy and often set a price as close as possible to cost, making a profit due to a set of additional services (which also have my cost).

So, the task is to create a tariff that will be competitive in comparison with the offers of MNO (ordinary mobile operators). How to attract more subscribers by giving them not only mobile communication, but also access to the Internet? In addition, you need to take into account that subscribers want to use not only mobile communication, but also access to the Internet, which, as we know, brings a lot of frustration on the road.

New profile "Tottoli"

Taking into account the wishes, we have combined the most comfortable conditions into a single profile - “Tottoli”, which has unique differences from those that existed before. This profile radically changes the international view of subscribers.
Profile makes communication more comfortable and reduces operator costs.
This is ensured by the following factors:

Direct call

On other profiles, the connection was established using a callback, which made it possible to significantly reduce the cost of international communication, but caused questions to subscribers.

When you call back, the request from the subscriber passes through the server, where it is processed and sent back to the caller's phone as an incoming call. The called subscriber receives an incoming call, and the caller feels only a delay of 3-5 seconds. However, the operators were faced with the fact that the callback is not comfortable for the subscriber, which is why we created our own unique profile in which calls are made directly from the caller to the called subscriber.

A direct call will work throughout Russia, in many countries of the CIS and Europe.

This solution is also beneficial for the operator, as with a direct call, its costs are reduced due to the lack of MSRN.
MSRN (Mobile Station Roaming Number) is a temporary mobile station number that is used to route a call to the MSC that is running the MS. In the case of a callback, the MSRN is charged to the virtual operators - the MNO (operator-actual owner of equipment and towers) is charged for allocating a temporary number to the calling subscriber. In this case, a fee is charged each time you make a call, regardless of its duration and impact. That is, if the caller dialed the number, but the called subscriber was unavailable or busy, the charge for MSRN is deducted from the virtual operator in any case.

Accordingly, the operator does not want to reduce ARPU (average revenue per subscriber) and is forced to include MSRN expenses in tariffs, which makes the proposed conditions unprofitable for the subscriber. On our own profile, thanks to a direct call, there is no MSRN, which allows you to forget about this expense item.

Tariff reduction

An important advantage of the new tariff is a significant reduction in the cost of traffic for MVNO operators. Each profile is a set of conditions for joining local mobile operators. As part of the Tottoli profile, we were able to get the most favorable conditions and now our virtual operators can use the best rates.

You can get acquainted with the prices on our website .

Connection quality

With all the advantages that exist, callback technology has several disadvantages. One of them is possible connection errors, since the call occurs according to a complex pattern. For the same reason, there is a possibility of not the highest quality of communication.
With a direct call, the call is made directly, which guarantees the absence of connection errors and ensures high quality of communication. The call process is simple, familiar and does not cause questions from the subscriber.

More than affordable internet

Another significant advantage is the low cost of the Internet. Subscribers will be truly mobile when traveling around the world, will be able to freely perform all the necessary operations, without thinking about the volume and cost of traffic.

New MVNO level

The “Tottoli” profile allows you to make the MVNO SIM card the main communication card of the subscriber. Direct call, affordable and competitive cost of calls and the Internet, plus global coverage make the offer beneficial for the end user who does not need to purchase separate SIM cards in each region of residence and think about roaming and service conditions in it.

Thus, we rise to a higher level in the sphere of virtual mobile telephony and allow our partner-virtual operators to solve important tasks for them and their subscribers:

• ensure high quality of communication;
• reduce the cost of services provided;
• provide subscriber mobility without reference to complex and expensive roaming tariffs;
• sustainably compete and redirect efforts to develop additional services necessary for business or customer communication.

The nature of a virtual mobile operator is ambiguous: from a niche communications operator (youth, student, etc.) to its own bank or retail network operator. The attitude towards virtual operators in Russia is ambiguous: on the one hand, they are attractive to subscribers, on the other hand, experts and competitors often rate them almost as speculators in the communications market. In fact, MVNO is an effective, powerful tool for creating additional services for a developed business; it’s not for nothing that there are already over five hundred virtual mobile operators in the world that provide communication to millions of people.

The conditions of the modern economy are crisis, then a rather long way out of the economic peak will follow. The best business policy in this situation is not building up the client base, but its retention and diversification of activities. Creating a virtual operator and providing interesting and useful services based on it is one of the best ways to maintain loyalty. Try it. And we will help.