MVNO

Mobile Virtual Network Operator. A company that, to end-users, appears to be a wireless network operator. Unlike a standard wireless carrier, however, an MVNO does not own the Base Station Subsystem (BSS) that Mobile Network Operators (MNO) do. MVNOs also may not necessarily own other infrastructure one normally associates with an MNO, such as MSCs, and Home Location Registers (HLRs). More importantly, MVNOs do not hold licenses to radio spectrum; instead they purchase network capacity from wireless carriers that do hold licenses and which do operate the network infrastructure necessary for wireless phone communication.