Virtual Operator cellular communication(Mobile Virtual Network Operator, MVNO) - a concept introduced to refer to companies that provide their subscribers with cellular services, but do not have all the features of real operators (for example, their own network infrastructure, a license to provide cellular services, etc.). The activities of virtual operators are possible through agreements with a "donor" operator that provides its own traffic to such companies. Accordingly, the virtual operator's income consists of the difference between subscriber payments and the payment to the real cellular operator (MNO - Mobile Network Operator) for the traffic provided. For the "donor" operator, there are advantages in relations with a "virtual" partner. More about them - just below. In the meantime, we should move on to the history of virtual cellular operators. Despite the relatively small number of MVNOs known in our country and abroad, especially a couple of years ago in Western Europe, virtual operators represented a fairly powerful trend in the mobile communications market. The term Mobile Virtual Network Operator itself was coined by the National Telecommunications Bureau, the British telecommunications regulator (The Office of Telecommunications, OFTEL), in 1998. Already at that time, a virtual operator was understood as a company that offered cellular communication services, but did not have the radio frequency resources necessary for this. The first virtual operators appeared at the end of the last century, companies in the mobile communications market in Western Europe were especially active. An example is the British Virgin Mobile (a subsidiary of the Virgin Group), which has existed since 1999. Over the next few years, dozens of virtual operators appeared, both independent companies and representatives of well-known brands, and not necessarily related to the telecommunications sector. Among the companies that have entered the new mobile communications market, one can note, in particular, Disney Mobile. As well as other virtual operators representing, for example, large retail chains, travel companies, and so on. The most famous players are British Tesco, French M6 Mobile (audience given operator- viewers of the TV channel of the same name), Carphone Warehouse, etc.
Interestingly, representatives of traditional MNO companies often acted as virtual operators. This was necessary, for example, to expand its network when entering new markets in countries where there was fierce competition from local operators, and the candidate did not have the necessary licenses to provide cellular services. The most illustrative example associated with this kind of real/virtual operators is the Swedish telecommunications holding TELE2. The company itself was established in 1981, and until 1993 it was known as Comviq. The total number of subscribers today is 30 million people, and the holding itself operates in two dozen countries in Europe and the CIS, including Russia. At the same time, the company entered the markets of some countries precisely as a virtual operator, acquiring traffic from local players and not bothering to purchase licenses.
However, the operator's development strategy in Russia was somewhat different: TELE2, as a rule, acquired the network of an existing operator and then improved it. specifications, improving the quality of communication. However, here the company, in fact, also did not deploy cellular networks, preferring to develop existing capacities. However, in connection with the latest developments in the field of legal regulation of the activities of virtual operators (in particular, the signing by the Minister of Telecom and Mass Communications of the order "On the Peculiarities of Licensing Activities for the Provision of Mobile Radiotelephone Communication Services"), the situation may change. The fact is that the largest regional cellular operators in Russia, TELE2 and SMARTS, are still not represented in the capital, and the impossibility of obtaining licenses for the provision of cellular services in Moscow as "real" operators makes them potential candidates for MVNO .
Returning directly to the development of virtual operators, it should be noted that some time after the appearance of the first such companies, they began to be designated key features new players in the cellular market, their competitive advantages compared to traditional operators. Firstly, it was a fairly low cost of calls. Price dumping made the services of virtual mobile operators preferable for certain groups of subscribers. It is quite simple to explain the generosity of MVNO - such companies did not need to "beat off" the costs of deploying the network itself, building and maintaining base stations, network infrastructure development. In the most primitive case, virtual operators did not even have billing systems for counting subscriber traffic - this was the prerogative of a superior operator that provided traffic, or it was outsourced to specialized service companies intermediary between MVNO and MNO, the so-called MVNE - Mobile Network Operator Enables. Secondly, the distinguishing feature of virtual operators was much greater flexibility compared to global players. Due to the flexibility and activity in the market, MVNO companies quickly offered their subscribers exclusive options, special offers like tariff plans or additional services. The emphasis on VAS services has always been competitive advantage virtual operators. One can give an example of the content services of the same Virgin Mobile, including the definition of the composition by ear, the forerunner of modern services of mobile phone manufacturers (TrackID, etc.). Further, it should be noted that virtual cellular operators are more focused on relatively small groups of users, united according to some criteria. Segmentation of your audience is typical for most MVNOs. For example, subscribers may be representatives of any communities, associations, which make it easier for virtual operators to offer their special solutions, tariff plans , additional content services. Last but not least is the demand for such specialized services among the target audience - for example, music lovers, fans. However, the most famous and highly profitable audience of a number of virtual operators are various ethnic groups, national diasporas. The almost universal lack of services in the native language of traditional operators allows us to speak with confidence about the popularity of such offers. An example is the services of virtual operators in Germany for the large Turkish diaspora, a Finnish operator that served Russian-speaking users, etc. As mentioned above, the absence of the need to purchase licenses for the provision of cellular services encourages using the experience of virtual operators when entering other markets. Deploying your own infrastructure is not required, which further increases the attractiveness of MVNO. The reasons why virtual operators have become quite popular in the Western cellular markets are different. In addition to a successful business model (it should be admitted that it is far from always successful), these are reciprocal steps on the part of other market participants - "donor" operators that provide traffic, and government regulators. One reason for the success of MVNOs at the start of the decade is that virtual operators were in the right place at the right time. Exhausted by expensive acquisitions of 3G licenses in Europe (in the wake of the then boom around third-generation networks), traditional cellular operators willingly met virtual operators halfway - on the one hand, this made it possible to somehow compensate for the billions in costs for acquiring licenses (although the sale of traffic was a drop in the ocean), on the other hand, to load the idle capacity of 3G networks, since the operators' own subscribers were very reluctant to use the services provided by 3G networks. I must say that the lack of capacity of cellular networks is another limiting factor in the development of virtual operators in our country. Russian federal operators have never had such a margin of safety as foreign companies, almost all traffic goes to their subscribers. Another important circumstance that influenced the development of virtual operators is the rather strict antimonopoly legislation of European countries. In many markets, in particular France and Ireland, the practice of virtual operators has been literally imposed from above. This was the result of the recommendation of the European Commission, given in 2003 to national regulators in the telecommunications sector, to check the mobile communications market, to prevent its monopolization by several players. Now, perhaps, it is worth moving on to the classification of virtual cellular operators. Despite their small number, there is a fairly strict gradation among MVNOs, depending on the degree of their involvement in the process of providing mobile communications services. Traditional cellular operators, MNOs, act here as a kind of donors, providing radio frequency resources, their own capacities (base stations, switches), sometimes the entire network infrastructure (including Hardware, and equipment for maintaining services, billing, customer support, etc.) - that is, HOST operators. The simplest, most primitive type of virtual mobile operators is the MVNO Service Provider (SP). This form is characterized by the lowest degree of involvement of the operating company in the process of providing services. The emphasis is on the sale of contracts (often such companies supply converted tariff plans of higher-level operators offering traffic), marketing support, and branding. All technical questions are submitted to external environment, fall on real operators providing their own capacities, or on intermediaries. Intermediaries are specialized service companies MVNE (Mobile Virtual Network Enables), which support network infrastructure, etc. It must be understood that MVNEs do not have their own licenses to provide mobile services, this is the prerogative of traditional mobile operators. An intermediate type of virtual operators, the so-called MVNO Enhanced Service Providers, are characterized by a much greater degree of involvement in the process of providing services. Such companies are already able to offer subscribers own services, including additional content services, since they have resources for VAS, provide billing for their own subscribers, etc. However, a number of issues remain the responsibility of the higher real operators, in particular, the provision of roaming in the networks of other operators, etc. Finally, the last type of virtual operators, which is characterized by the greatest degree of integration, is the actual MVNO, virtual cellular operators. Such companies offer their subscribers a full range of services, have their own technical resources, and also conclude agreements for the provision of services in roaming, and provide inter-operator interaction. However, for such full-fledged virtual operators, the main difference from traditional companies is the lack of licenses for the provision of cellular services and, accordingly, the need to use the networks of base stations of real operators. Virtual operators of all three types are well known abroad, but in Russia, until recently, there were no full-fledged MVNOs. By the way, an interesting question is the development of domestic virtual operators. One of the first MVNOs, or companies that could be considered as such, was Corbina-Telecom, which in 1999 got the opportunity to use the DAMPS network of the VimpelCom cellular operator (Beeline trademark). Subsequently, there were other examples of cooperation between federal mobile operators and companies that could be considered MVNOs if the relevant provisions were clearly spelled out in Russian legislation. So, in Moscow several years ago, several operating companies began to work at once, offering cellular communication services: "Matrix", "Allo Incognito", etc.
A distinctive feature of all such companies was that they used the resources of the MegaFon operator. Among other things, the benefit for the federal operator was that the subscribers of such virtual operators replenished the database of MegaFon itself. To attract customers, absolutely nothing was required of him - promotion and marketing support were carried out by the MVNOs themselves, who purchased traffic from a higher operator. Interestingly, MegaFon subsequently acted as a virtual operator itself when it began providing cellular services in the Magadan and Kamchatka regions. At the same time, the operator used the resources of a local player - the Dalsvyaz company. It is even more interesting that by that time MegaFon already had its own licenses to provide communication services in these regions, but chose to develop its network in this way, through cooperation with a regional operator. Finally, one of the most famous recent MVNO initiatives has been associated with the Euroset network of mobile phone stores. In 2005, one of its subsidiaries began to provide cellular communication services in several Volga regions under the brand name "Evroset", using the capacity of the SMARTS operator. However, it was more of an experiment dictated by the need to diversify the retailer's business. Unfortunately, the experiment was not successful - two years later, Euroset has not become a significant player at the regional level. Well, in connection with recent events, the fate of the Euroset operator is completely sealed.
It is curious that SMARTS was quite active in the market of virtual operators. More than a year ago, the operator "Yo" began to work in the same Volga region, using the resources of this company. The MVNO has been characterized by an aggressive policy, which, however, has not yet brought any outstanding results.
Results
It cannot be said that virtual mobile operators in our country are in their infancy. Per last years Several virtual operators, or companies that could be considered as such, have appeared on the Russian mobile market at once. Unfortunately, most of these companies never became successful or exist with rather low profitability. On the other hand, in the country until last year, in fact, there was no regulatory framework necessary to formalize relations between virtual operators, "donor" operators presenting their air traffic, as well as companies interested in the services provided by MVNOs. The signing on December 29 last year by the Minister of Telecom and Mass Communications, Mr. I. O. Shchegolev, of the order "On the specifics of licensing activities for the provision of mobile radiotelephone communications", which regulates the activities of MVNO, will certainly revive the situation on the market. No wonder the launch of the A-Mobile tariff plan from the MTS operator and the Auchan hypermarket chain was timed specifically for December 29th. In fact, a well-known grocery retail chain acted as a virtual operator (the first, simplest type of MVNO SP - Service Providers). It should be noted that abroad Auchan provides cellular communication services under its own brand in several other countries. However, over the past month, no other serious activity was noticed among potential candidates for virtual operators. However, in the future, after state registration order, we will certainly be waiting for new initiatives in the field of MVNO. Do not forget that, according to the same order, future virtual operators will have to enter the market with their own infrastructure (in particular, billing systems, etc.). This will to some extent weed out "random guests", but at the same time will reduce the already small circle of applicants. Further, in anticipation of the emergence of a certain number of virtual operators, real cellular operators will need to solve the problem of increasing the capacity of their own networks, which looks quite problematic in a crisis (leading operators, on the contrary, declare cost reduction). Nevertheless, the mobile market in Russia has changed dramatically lately, mobile operators are reconsidering their policies in connection with the opportunity to influence the largest distributors. It creates certain conditions for the emergence of new players in the market - both independent newly formed MVNOs and virtual operators affiliated with already existing companies related not only to the telecommunications sector (Auchan is a good example). Despite the highest level of penetration of cellular communications in Russia and the impressive subscriber bases of the Big Three operators, there are still uncovered niches, certain groups that can become the target audience of virtual operators. Although the relatively low average ARPU characteristic of federal operators does not allow us to seriously count on the effectiveness of price dumping on the part of virtual operators (almost the main advantage of MVNOs abroad), and the demand for content services in Russia is also doubtful, the number of potential candidates for the ranks MVNO is still large enough. For example, the same companies of the federal level, with a wide distributed network of regional branches and representative offices, for which, in the current conditions, it is desirable to reduce communication costs. In any case, in 2009 the situation on the operator market will change, and not least this may be due to the arrival of a certain number of virtual operators. Consequently, competition will have to increase (at least in some segments), prerequisites will be created for improving the quality of services provided. This means that the development of the cellular market in the country will not stop, which should have a beneficial effect on us, users of mobile communications.A virtual roaming-free space will be created for Easy4 subscribers - the operator will work using Multi-IMSI technology (Multi International Mobile Subscriber Identity - a changeable international individual subscriber number). “A SIM card can connect to any tower of any partner operator, based on more favorable conditions for the subscriber both in terms of price and quality,” Malyshkin said. All incoming calls for Easy4 subscribers will be free of charge in any country, and outgoing calls will be charged at the prices of the home region. Several numbers will be recorded on the SIM card at once, and the subscriber will be able to make and receive calls both to his “home” number and to the number of the host country.
Most of the technology used by Easy4 was developed Russian company Intersat, which is a resident of Skolkovo. According to Kartoteka.ru, 70% of Intersat belongs to Sergey Malyshkin, 15% to Sonnet, and the remaining 15% to individuals.
During the first year of operation, Easy4 plans to borrow 7% on Russian market. To promote Easy4, a wide distribution network will be created with the participation of travel companies, hotels, and airlines.
Photo: Sergey Malgavko / TASS
virtual market
According to Orbis Research, in 2017 the global MVNO market amounted to $54.1 billion. In 2018-2023, this figure will grow by an average of 8.8% per year. Now there are about 1 thousand MVNOs in the world, they serve about 10% of the total number of cellular subscribers on the planet. More than half of such projects are concentrated in Europe.
At the end of 2017, 255.4 million mobile subscribers were registered in Russia, according to AC&M. MVNO accounted for 6 million subscribers, that is, slightly more than 2%, according to TMT Consulting. The volume of this market in Russia amounted to 40 billion rubles.
In Russia, MVNOs began to develop later than in other countries. This business model was described in legislation at the end of 2008, but for a long time the largest operators refused to cooperate with such companies, allowing only affiliated projects to enter their networks. The situation changed in 2015 after the creation of T2 RTK Holding and the launch of its network in Moscow. In particular, MVNOs of Sberbank (Let's Talk) and Tinkoff Bank (Tinkoff Mobile) were launched on its network. “MVNO is one of the important strategic directions for Tele2, and we see serious potential in this segment. Today, the largest number of virtual operators created by financial institutions, fixed-line operators and international telecommunications companies operate on the Tele2 network in Russia. The total number of MVNO subscribers based on Tele2 exceeds 1 million people,” said Olga Galushina, a representative of T2 RTK Holding.
However, of the major international brands developing MVNOs, only Richard Branson's Virgin Group trademark has been indirectly present in Russia so far. At the end of 2017, Trivon Networks in Russia became an MVNO under the Virgin Connect brand.
According to Konstantin Ankilov, CEO of TMT Consulting, the MVNO market in Russia is already overcrowded.” “In practice, only MVNOs created by cellular operators themselves are successful. For example, Yota (a brand that is being developed by MegaFon's subsidiary Skartel. — RBC) sells services to a specific target audience at attractive rates. Rostelecom and MGTS are interesting for MVNO clients who sell mobile and fixed communications in a single package,” Ankilov said. For a newcomer to win a place in the crowded MVNO market, you need to offer something special. “Multi-IMSI can be such a competitive advantage as this technology allows low roaming prices to be offered. The question is whether the virtual operator will be able to negotiate low roaming rates with its partners,” Ankilov said.
Unobvious benefit
According to iKS-Consulting analyst Maxim Savvatin, MVNO with Multi-IMSI technology is a very niche product that may be of interest either to the premium segment - wealthy people who travel a lot, or businessmen. “In addition, base operators have various roaming offers, which, in the face of fierce competition, are trying to attract subscribers with the most favorable prices,” Savvatin said. In the current market conditions, the analyst does not see great prospects for such a virtual operator: “It is unlikely that they will be able to offer subscribers prices that will be lower than those offered by the base operators, since small market players have few opportunities for flexible billing.”
The press secretary of VimpelCom (Beeline brand) Anna Aibasheva noted that they already have “automatic low prices in international roaming, and for subscribers it does not require additional efforts to connect services or change numbers.
Yulia Dorokhina, a representative of MegaFon, also agrees that MVNOs designed for travelers are a niche proposition. “According to various sources, in Russia about 30% of residents have foreign passports and only 9% of them actively travel. Is it beneficial for subscribers if they communicate under the terms of foreign operators? Revolutionary economy is not visible. Firstly, mobile communication in Russia is much cheaper than abroad. Secondly, now foreign operators have, on average, minimum packages of minutes for calls and the Internet cost from €10, which is more than 700 rubles,” Dorokhina said.
According to the results of the first half of 2017, the number of subscribers of such operators in Russia reached 6 million people, the research company TMT Consulting calculated. And the main growth, analysts say, came in the last two or three years.
How virtuals were created
For the first time, virtual cellular networks emerged in the late 1990s. In Great Britain. The level of penetration of cellular communications in the country then only crept up to 50%, and the British regulator Oftel decided that it was time to stimulate competition. He obliged cellular companies to provide part of their infrastructure (including numbers and frequencies) to companies that also wanted to provide communication services, but could not build networks themselves. Such operators are called virtual.
How MVNO was legalized
At the end of December 2008, the Minister of Telecom and Mass Communications Igor Shchegolev signed an order allowing the operation of virtual operators (MVNO) in Russia. Prior to this, virtual operators were actually resellers of the services of "real" cellular companies, which assumed full responsibility for the quality and settlements with the subscriber. Having neither billing nor equipment, Euroset even depended on SMARTS for tariffs, Andrey Girev, SMARTS CEO, told Vedomosti in 2008. The amendments also regulated that a virtual cellular operator is one who only rents infrastructure from operators, and organizes the rest, including billing, himself. Also, virtual operators after the order received the right to their own numbering capacity. A special license for MVNO has also appeared - to obtain it, it is enough to agree on a partnership scheme with a cellular company whose infrastructure it intends to use, and approve it in Roskomnadzor.
The first prototypes of Russian MVNOs began to appear in the early 2000s. The first known such project was the virtual operator of Euroset and the Volga region operator SMARTS, which worked for only two years - from 2007 to 2009. Also, the projects of retailers - A-mobile, Ashana and Allo X5 Retail Group (both worked on MTS networks). The time of the first operators fell on the period of recruitment of the subscriber base and MVNOs were then mainly created on the initiative of mobile operators, says Denis Kuskov, CEO of the research company Telecom Daily.
But the real popularity of this format was brought by the Yota project: at first it was an independent wireless operator operating on unpopular frequencies. But then Megafon bought the company, and Yota began to work as a virtual operator on the networks of the parent company. Yota positioned itself as an operator for young and active users of the mobile Internet.
Lagging shook the market
MegaFon is not the only operator that has made its "daughter" an MVNO project. So, for example, a virtual operator MGTS (100% subsidiary) has earned on MTS networks, and a Sim Sim operator for migrants (50% owned by the operator) has earned on VimpelCom networks. But with outsiders, the big three since 2010-2011. shared infrastructure not very willingly. Employees of operators in informal conversations with Vedomosti said that the cellular market has reached saturation and projects of virtual operators only lead to an overflow of subscribers from their own networks, and therefore they consider their launch inappropriate.
But at the beginning of 2016, Tele2 entered the market of virtual operators, lagging behind the big three in terms of the number of subscribers. The company announced the creation of a "factory" MVNO. “MVNO for us, as a catching up market player, is a very important topic, strategically important,” said Sergey Emdin, CEO of Tele2, at the Vedomosti forum in June this year.
The operator agreed to create a virtual operator with the country's largest bank, Sberbank, and the largest provider, Rostelecom. Tele2 also intends to create a virtual operator with a subsidiary of RZD Transtelecom and Tinkoff Bank. Given these partnerships, Tele2 has the opportunity to close its backlog in terms of the share of subscribers, says Kuskov.
Mikhail Uchuvatkin, Director of PwC Business Consulting Practice, states that it is precisely these players, focused on gaining market share, that are becoming the engines of the virtual operator market. The cost of attracting one contract is high and can amount to several APRUs (an operator's monthly revenue per subscriber), the expert recalls. The virtual operator bears these costs, while at the same time it covers niche audience segments.
Oleg Tinkov Chairman of the Board of Directors of Tinkoff Bank
We are all exhausted! I understand how you got the monopoly of the trio of operators, their terrible service, horse tariffs and deceit. Tele2 is trying to change the situation, and now we are going to help them, and on the basis of Tele2 at the end of the year we are launching the mobile operator Tinkoff Mobile.
Banks and retailers with large customer bases view mobile communications not as a source of additional income, but as a tool to increase customer loyalty and obtain data about them for further monetization, says Uchuvatkin. In addition, management often keeps in mind the opportunity to save on informing customers and their own sms-mailings.
In touch with the enemy
Some companies believe that there is supposedly a big "piece of the pie" left for them in the cellular communications market, says Alexander Popovsky, vice president for strategy and development at VimpelCom. But for their operator partners, there is a risk in such cooperation, he warns. After all, the operating model and pricing policy is determined directly by the virtual operator, which means that by launching MVNOs on their networks, classical operators risk growing a competitor at their side.
Alexander Popovsky Vice President for Strategy and Development, VimpelCom
Having a large and loyal customer base is not a guarantee of a successful start. A loyal [to a bank or a retailer] customer can be a loyal customer of a certain mobile operator at the same time, and it is not a fact that<...>will start buying cell phone services from you.
There have already been such examples in the history of the communications market, the expert says. One of the large-scale MVNOs was the Danish Telmore, which worked on the network of the leader of the Danish mobile communications market TDC. Telmore bought traffic from TDC in bulk - at 0.5 kroons per 1 minute, and sold it to customers at 1.25 kroons. Despite this, Telmore's prices turned out to be significantly lower than those prevailing on the market at that time. To protect against dumping, TDC was eventually forced to buy its own partner in 2004 for DKK 400 million.
The right MVNO will help your revenue
Perhaps the owners of new Russian MVNOs also hope to sell the business in the future, the interlocutors in the two operators do not exclude. But in general, such plans at the launch of the operator are “the skin of the not killed,” one of them notes. If we talk about the cellular market as a whole, then the bear has long been killed and divided, adds Uralsib analyst Konstantin Belov: the level of penetration of mobile communications is very high and operators hardly have an appetite for such purchases. In any case, MVNO works on the operator's infrastructure, so it is also unlikely that it will be possible to drop tariffs and upset the balance in the market in the near future, Belov reassures.
The operator's task is to select the right MVNO partners for themselves, who will strengthen segments that are underrepresented by it or segments with which it does not know how to work effectively (for example, with a high acquisition cost for the operator), Anatoly Smorgonsky, founder of Starnet, is sure. If everything is correct, this will lead to growth or stabilization of the operator's revenue or EBITDA. And for an oversaturated market, this is just relevant, he believes. It is clear that in addition to this, Sberbank, for example, is a large company with a huge resource and certain risks may be associated with this, but the result for the operator can be very interesting, adds Smorgonsky.
) began working with MVNO "Allo Incognito" (CJSC "CountryCom") in St. Petersburg, the operator "Sky Link" declared its readiness to cooperate with MVNO and in early 2011 began working with MVNO "Plus One". The Euroset project (in the Volga region) was curtailed after 2 years of trial work on the MVNO market. Currently, MVNO projects in Russia do not develop their own network, often limiting themselves to simply reselling traffic under their own brand, although the issued licenses already allow them to supplement or develop their networks.
Summary table of MVNO operators in Russia
| Trademark | Cellular Standard | Reference network | Launch date | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SberMobile from Sberbank | GSM, UMTS, LTE | Tele2 | February 1, 2018 | In Moscow, the delivery of SIM cards has been organized since February 1, 2018. |
| DANYCOM | GSM, UMTS, LTE | Tele2 | December 1, 2017 | The project started on December 1, 2017 in test mode. The end of the trial period is June 1, 2018. The operator is available in 62 regions Russian Federation. From June 1, 2018, 4 commercial tariffs are available. During the test period, one free tariff is offered to its subscribers. |
| EASY4 | GSM, UMTS, LTE | Tele2, MTS | June 1, 2018 | The project started on June 1, 2018 in test mode. |
| Tinkoff Mobile | Tele2 | December 13, 2017 | MVNO operator launched on December 13, 2017. Technological partners for the launch were Forward Telecom and Jet Infosystems, the base operator (MNO) is Tele2. As Forward Telecom reported in February 2018, the project became a non-trivial task due to the tight deadlines: the operator was launched in 6 months. | |
| ER-Telecom (Dom.ru) | GSM, UMTS, LTE | Tele2 | II quarter 2016 | Kirov, in 2018, the launch will start in other cities. |
| Rostelecom | GSM, UMTS, LTE | Tele2 | III quarter 2016 | Until 2014, Rostelecom provided mobile communication services. |
| Aiva Mobile, MTT | GSM, UMTS, LTE | MTS, Tele2 | May 7, 2014 | The first Full MVNO project in the Russian Federation. Implemented by Interregional Transit Telecom. AT this moment MTT is a leader in the MVNE market and provides partners with the opportunity to create Virtual Operators based on their own MVNE platform. |
| Atlas | 4G, LTE | Beeline | November 7, 2016 | At the start, it is available in Moscow and the Moscow region. The free mobile operator Atlas is an experimental project of the Russian Ventures fund. The operator was launched in the MVNO format in cooperation with market leaders. The mission of the project is to provide free mobile communications to all residents of Russia and the CIS within 3 years. |
| JSC "GLONASS" | GSM | MTS, Beeline, Megafon | January 1, 2016 | |
| WorkTel | GSM, LTE | Beeline | 2015 | From June 1, 2017, all subscribers switched to service in the company "Unlimited". Moscow and Moscow region, Tver, Smolensk, Kaluga, Ryazan, Krasnodar, St. Petersburg. |
| Mobilink | GSM | Beeline | 2014 | It operates on the territory of the Saratov region, but you can use communication services throughout Russia. Having our own call center allowed us to surpass the base operator in such key parameters as price and service. Availability of VIP services for Mobilink clients. |
| "Connected Mobile" | GSM | MTS | 2013 | "Lightweight" MVNO, a joint project the Svyaznoy company and the telecom operator MTS. He was a member of the projects of the Svyaznoy group. "Svyaznoy Mobile" provided services voice communication and data transmission in GSM, 3G, 4G formats. It was available in all regions of the Russian Federation. Due to the complication of relations between the companies, the project is currently stopped. |
| WhyFly | GSM | Beeline | 2013 | It operates on the territory of the Moscow region, however, communication services can be used throughout Russia. The presence of our own billing system and call-center allowed us to surpass the base operator in such key parameters as price and service. |
| Central Telegraph | CDMA | Sky Link | 2013 | Moscow and Moscow region. |
| MTS | LTE | Yota | 2012 | Only in the city of Kazan. |
| Megaphone | LTE | Yota | 2012 | |
| Fly | GSM | SMARTS | April 26, 2012 | The project was launched by Tattelecom on the territory of the Republic of Tatarstan. In 2013, Tattelecom bought out the company SMARTS-Kazan CJSC, whose capacities were used to organize a virtual operator, thereby, under the Fly brand, the services of a full-fledged cellular operator began to be provided. |
| Plus one | CDMA | Sky Link | 2011 | Project of Rostelecom company. subscribers are transferred |
| Allyo (LandMarket LLC, a subsidiary of X5 Retail Group) | GSM | MTS | August 4, 2010 | Licensed in August 2009 . Connection packages began to be sold on 04.08.2010 in Karusel supermarkets. The operator operates on the territory of Moscow and the Moscow region. The project is closed. |
| "Just to chat" | GSM | Megaphone | 2009 | The project closed in 2010. |
| Business Wave (Mango) | GSM | Megaphone | 2009 | |
| "People's mobile phone" | IMT-MC-450, GSM | Tele2 | Planned | The license was obtained in March 2009, but the services are not provided. |
| "A-Mobile" | GSM | MTS | 2008 | (Auchan - only sales, maintenance and leaving the tariff is free). Only Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg and Krasnodar. |
| "Yo" | GSM | SMARTS | 2008 | Republic of Mordovia, Republic of Bashkortostan, Republic of Tatarstan, Chuvash Republic, Saratov Region, Ulyanovsk Region and Astrakhan Region. |
| "Unlimited" | GSM | Formerly Beeline (Vympelcom), in 2013 the company issued SIM cards with the network name "Unlimited" | 2007 | At the moment, the company has released a line of unlimited tariffs under its own brand and is actively connecting premium class subscribers. |
| Euroset | GSM | SMARTS | 2007 | |
| "Central Telegraph" (brands "Baza mobile", "Megatel") | GSM | Megaphone | 2006 | |
| AviaTel | GSM | Megaphone | 2003 | |
| Federal Telecom | GSM | Megaphone | 2003 | |
| Globus Telecom | GSM | Megaphone | 2003 | |
| Investelectrosvyaz (Corbina) | GSM | Beeline (VympelCom) | 2003 | The project was purchased by Vimpelcom. Subscribers switched to Beeline. |
| Comet (Synterra) | GSM | Megaphone | 2003 | The project is closed. |
| ComStar | GSM | Megaphone | 2003 | |
| MasterTel | GSM | Megaphone | 2003 | |
| Matrix Telecom | GSM | Megaphone | 2003 | |
| Firm TEL | GSM | Megaphone | 2003 | |
| Technician Teleport | GSM | Megaphone | 2003 | The project is closed. |
| Gars Telecom | GSM, CDMA | Beeline, MegaFon | 2003 | |
| "SunSim" | GSM | Beeline | 2003 | |
| "Hello Incognito" | GSM, CDMA, MVNO, GPON | MegaFon, Sky Link, Beeline | 2001 | At the moment, they also provide communication services based on their own networks. One of the oldest virtual operators in the Russian Federation. The operator operates on the territory of Moscow, the Moscow region, St. Petersburg and the North-West region. |
| Yota | GSM, LTE | Megaphone | 2014 | GSM based on Megafon and LTE based on its network. |
| Teletai | GSM, LTE | Beeline (VympelCom) | 2012 | Moscow and St. Petersburg. Since 2017, it has been operating in 22 regions of Russia. The provider of the MVNO solution for Teletai was Forward Telecom. |
| NetbyNet (Wifire) | GSM, LTE, MVNO | Megaphone | 2006 | Since June 10, 2011, NETBYNET has been a subsidiary and the main FSBA asset of MegaFon. |
| MCN Telecom | GSM, UMTS, LTE | Tele2 | December 2017 | Provides services in the cities: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Krasnodar, Novosibirsk, Rostov-on-Don |
| ComfortWay | GSM, MVNO | Tap Mobile One | 2016 | Works through the multi-operator OEM platform TM ONE, which allows you to connect to different base operators in 190 countries around the world using a roaming-free model. |
| MGTS | MTS |
Based on MegaFon
- NetbyNet (WiFire brand) The company has existed since 2006 and was organized by combining a number of broadband Internet access market operators operating in the capital. At the beginning of 2007, NETBYNET acquired the ORC operator, which allowed the company to find its niche in the B2B segment in Moscow. Since its inception, the operator has been actively developing, entering markets in new regions, and increasing its subscriber base. Since June 10, 2011, NETBYNET has been a subsidiary and the main FSBA asset of MegaFon.
- Gars Telecom ("Smart Mobile" service)
- "Just to chat"
Based on MTS
- "A-Mobile"
- Alle
- Svyaznoy Mobile
Based on Beeline
- "Unlimited"
- "Sim-Sim"
- GARTEL
The operator "GARTEL" (LLC "Gartel") is an operator of completely unlimited communication for residents of Russia. The company was founded in 2003. In 2010, she entered into a cooperation agreement with VimpelCom. GARTEL presents the Ideal Unlimited tariff.
- "SunSim"
- "Teletay"
- "Why Fly"
- "WorkTel"
Based on "SMARTS"
- Euroset
- "NMT"
- "Fly"
Based on Tele2
- Rostelecom
- "Tinkoff Mobile"
- SberMobile
- DANYCOM
- MCN Telecom
- "TTK Mobile"
- "Easy4"
Based on "Yota"
- "Megaphone"
- "MTS"
Based on TapMobile One
The operator "" (Active Technology LLC) announced the launch on August 25, 2016 and works through the multi-operator MVNE / OEM platform TapMobile One, which combines the provision of mobile services from mobile operators in 190 countries of the world, subscribers and services from partners. СomfortWay provides only Internet access services and provides them in the Remote SIM provisioning standard, which was adopted by the GSMA in 2016. In the Asia-Pacific region - China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, Australia, Malaysia, South Korea, Laos - ComfortWay operates through the leading regional operator China Unicom on a roaming-free model. The company does not report on work with operators in other countries, including Russia.Story
The first virtual operator in Russia was Corbina Telecom, which has been providing cellular communications since 1999 based on the DAMPS network of Vympel-Communications. Subsequently, the new owner bought out the whole DAMPS division.
At the beginning of 2003, Gars Telecom, a fixed-line operator operating in the corporate market, launched the Smart Mobile solution, which became the first MVNO in Russia based on GSM technology. In 2007, the 3G office solution was launched with Sky Link as a host operator.
On December 29, 2008, by order No. 116 dated December 29, 2008 Order No. 116 dated December 29, 2008 "On approval of requirements for the provision of mobile radiotelephone communications services when using the business model of virtual networks of mobile radiotelephone communications" by the Ministry of Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation were approved requirements for the provision of mobile radiotelephone services when using the business model of virtual networks of mobile radiotelephone communications. The order was registered with the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation on March 13, 2009, and in the same year, future MVNO operators begin to receive communication licenses. The first MVNO licenses were entered into the register in May 2009 (No. 67491 for Mobile Medical Technologies LLC and No. 67501 for Narodny Mobile Phone LLC).
Virtual operators of other countries
There are quite large virtual operators in the US and Europe: Virgin Mobile, British Telecom and Blyk in the UK, Disney in the US. In Europe, they are a significant competitor to other operators (13 million subscribers in 2005): for example, in Finland, 10% of the long-distance connection market belongs to Cubio.
Every day more and more mobile operators appear on the market, providing communication services on unique terms. Today it became known that thanks to Tele2, now every Russian can create his own telecom operator. In particular, the MVNO constructor was launched, thanks to which anyone who wishes to favorable conditions can become a partner of Tele2 and provide its subscribers with communication services under its own brand and at its own rates.
The official representative of Tele2 reports that the company has developed the MVNO platform, which allows all residents of Russia to create their own mobile operator. We are talking, of course, about a virtual operator that will carry out its activities at the expense of the Tele2 infrastructure. The MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Enabler) platform includes many standard telecommunications systems, including analytics tools, billing panels, and much more.
Sergey Volkov, director of development of the segment of virtual operators and partnerships at Tele2, notes that the MVNO platform makes it possible to clone virtual operators very quickly, but at the same time provide individual terms of service for each. Now all Russians have the opportunity to create their own operators, even for a small football team, for a chain of retail stores, or simply for their own personal needs.
Thanks to the MVNO platform, Tele2 hopes to launch dozens of new virtual cellular operators every year, the creation process of which will be almost completely automated. This will strengthen its presence in the corporate market, because any even the smallest company will be able to create its own operator, for which certain numbers and SIM cards will be allocated.
If earlier the process of launching a virtual operator in Russia took about one year, since hundreds of issues had to be resolved, now, thanks to MVNO technology, it will take only one month. To make everything fair, a virtual operator can earn money by selling Internet packages or minutes to its subscribers, but at the same time, he needs to deduct a certain percentage of Tele2 from all profits.
To create your own cellular operator in partnership with Tele2, you just need to register a company in Russia, that is entity, after which you can apply for the creation of a virtual operator that will operate throughout the country or only in certain regions - everything can be configured individually.
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