Should Apple or Amazon become MVNOs?
Some of our team attended the MVNOs World Congress in Belgium this year and listened to a panel discussion on the topic, ‘Apple, Amazon, Google, Tesla – Why they should or shouldn’t become MVNOs’.
The overwhelming consensus on the panel to this key question was, no – these big tech companies shouldn’t become MVNOs. The reasoning? Why would these companies start moving away from their core offering to pursue a low margin, high risk venture like the one of becoming an MVNO? Why would they start providing connectivity services to customers when there are already thousands of MNOs and MVNOs in the global telecom market already fulfilling this need?
To me, this exposed the stagnation, or lack of innovative thinking, in telecom today and highlights how the constraints of legacy telecom make the idea of outsiders breaking into the industry seem impossible, or unfathomable.
As connectivity becomes commoditized, there will be many enterprises, brands and individuals that want to harness its power to either drive new revenue or get closer to their customers.
Apple and Amazon are both prime examples of enterprises that could, and should, offer connectivity to their customers- provided they work with and are supported by the right global connectivity partner. For Apple, offering connectivity services would empower them to provide customers with a true end-to-end service – a service that many have wondered about and asked: why hasn’t this been offered yet by Apple? Amazon, one of the world’s largest ‘everything’ online stores, seems to offer everything except direct connectivity to its customers. But why?
The limitations of traditional telecom
Unfortunately, up until this point, the ability to seamlessly offer or embed connectivity into existing digital products or experiences, has been out of reach for outsiders of telecom. The lack of global federation, complex network integrations and regulations, high cost, and limited control and flexibility, are just some of the reasons why adding connectivity into its offering would not have been possible, or a good idea, for the likes of Apple or Amazon . Traditional telecom is slow, lacks innovation and is not built around the customer experience. It just hasn’t been possible for these types of companies to offer mobile services to customers using traditional telecom methods and models.
There is, however, a new era of telecom that is being spearheaded by Telecom-as-a-Service (TaaS) companies, like OXIO. OXIO’s TaaS platform is challenging the status quo in telecom and gives enterprises and brands all they need to start building the next generation of mobile experiences. TaaS enables companies, like Apple, to build, manage and design mobile plans with complete freedom and flexibility, and all through one intuitive, no-code platform that offers customers a suite of personalization tools, empowering them to build their ideal mobile experience for their customers in just days.
By connecting to the world’s best mobile carriers, OXIO’s TaaS platform brings connectivity to the cloud where it can be managed and deployed like any modern SaaS solution. This creates a borderless network that gives end-users a seamless connectivity experience, where they can access the best network coverage at all times, no matter where they’re located.
Legacy telecom is not built for fast innovation, but Telecom-as-a-Service is.
After listening to the panel, here are a few reasons why I can understand the narrative around Apple or Amazon not becoming an MVNO, and then why TaaS removes those limitations and shines a light on what is possible for companies seeking to leverage the power of connectivity in today’s modern world.
Global federation
Traditional telecom: There is currently no global federation in telecom. Apple or Amazon would need to work with multiple mobile carriers across the world on individual integrations and contracts for each country they operated in. This would take years to complete, would be extremely complicated and costly, and is probably one of the biggest deterrents for Apple or Amazon wanting to become an MVNO through traditional telecom partnerships and models.
TaaS: Apple can use a cloud-native, multi-carrier TaaS platform, like OXIO, and start offering global connectivity solutions to customers around the world – doing so at speed and at scale. All carrier integrations, country-by-country regulations and contracts would have been taken care of by the TaaS provider and Apple would be able to plug ‘n’ play, launching their mobile offering quickly. The complexity of traditional telecom is fully removed with TaaS. Apple customers would be able to purchase a new MacBook and instantly get access to reliable connectivity wherever they traveled in the world.
Partnerships
Traditional telecom: If Apple or Amazon were to seriously consider building and launching their own connectivity offerings, they would need to work with a number of different providers and partners. They’d have to set-up partnerships with MNOs or MVNE/As which are often time consuming, costly and very complicated. Traditional telecom is extremely fragmented, messy and slow, making it difficult for companies like Apple or Amazon to find a single partner capable of bringing their connectivity vision to life on a global scale.
TaaS: TaaS platforms like OXIO, offer a one network, one platform, one partner solution that takes the headache out of traditional telecom and eliminates the need to work with numerous third parties, giving companies unrivaled flexibility and speed to market. With everything fully productized via one intuitive platform that requires no telecom experience to operate, the likes of Apple or Amazon can build and launch their connectivity offering quickly and continuously benefit from the platform’s consistent improvements and upgrades, keeping them on the cutting edge of TaaS technology at all times.
Control, flexibility and speed
Traditional telecom: If working with a carrier, Apple and Amazon would have struggled to easily integrate and embed connectivity into their existing products and have the control and flexibility they’d want, need and expect to manage this new offering effectively. Personalization and customization would be at the hands of the individual carrier they’d be working with, where both companies would have to pick from pre-packaged plans given to them by their carrier. These plans would likely be different in every country they operated in, creating an inconsistent mobile product and brand experience across different territories.
TaaS: TaaS platforms like OXIO, give customers full control over their network and the mobile experiences they build for their end-users. With an API-first mindset, OXIO enables quick and easy integrations into our platform, helping to drive innovation and where customers can control the platform based on their own set of business rules. This gives companies the freedom and flexibility to truly build the mobile offering that fits the needs and lifestyles of their customers, in a true permissionless environment. You can be the creator of your own connectivity vision with TaaS, creating customized plans built specifically for your customer base.
Data
Traditional telecom: With no holistic view of their MVNO business, using traditional telecom models would mean Apple and Amazon would have to operate in complete silos for every country they were operating in. When we look at traditional carriers who operate across ten countries, they’ll be operating 10 siloed networks with no centralized network core or intelligence. This would leave both companies running operationally blind, without the data they’d need to drive success for their MVNO on a global scale.
TaaS: Not only does OXIO’s TaaS platform run on one centralized, global network core, but we’re also able to uncover unique network-level intelligence on subscribers that can help Apple and Amazon, who are both data-driven by nature, gain even deeper isights into their customers. Both companies would have one holistic global view of their connectivity business through powerful MVNO dashboards and visualizations, and they’d also be able to further power their marketing campaigns and fuel their customer strategies with their own unique 24/7 network, telecom and subscriber insights that, until now, have been previously inaccessible to MVNOs.
A new era of connectivity
While traditional telecom structures present significant barriers for tech giants like Apple and Amazon to embed connectivity into their offering, the evolving landscape of Telecom-as-a-Service offers a new and innovative alternative.
As connectivity becomes increasingly commoditized, the potential for tech giants and other non-telecom companies to leverage TaaS solutions to enter the telecom market becomes not only feasible but also strategically advantageous. This new era of connectivity presents a unique opportunity for these companies to redefine mobile experiences and create new revenue streams, all while staying true to their core business strengths and customer-centric philosophies.
Imagine a world where you can have connectivity as part of your Amazon Prime subscription, or where you have instant access to global connectivity when you buy a new iPhone or MacBook. Telecom-as-a-Service is paving the way for a world where this becomes a reality, and it won’t be long before we see these kinds of personalized embedded mobile services and experiences from our favorite brands.
To learn more about OXIO, contact us today.
