On 12/15/22 10:09 AM, Bill Horne wrote:

The term mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) refers to a company
that sells wireless communication services. MVNOs employ third-party infrastructure, as opposed to traditional mobile network operators
(MNOs), who operate their infrastructure.

Except, what infrastructure the MNO owns is also a real question. They
may or may not own “their” cell sites. They may have a contract with someone to build and own a site, with an exclusive lease agreement.
(Why? CAPEX(1) vs. lease expense are different to the IRS.)

And way out in the boonies, they may be on a site owned by a third
party, and having a non-exclusive lease with that party. “Our town is
so small it has one and only one cell tower...”

And the site owners may well be renting tower space from the tower
owner. Don't forget the leased fiber backhaul or point-to-point
microwave link {likely leased....} from the tower to the switching
office.

The vitally important part the MNO *does* have, and the MVNO does NOT,
is .... the FCC license for that cell site. Beyond that, it’s
Hollywood bookkeeping.

1. (Capital expenditures -mod)

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According to David <[email protected]>:

And way out in the boonies, they may be on a site owned by a third
party, and having a non-exclusive lease with that party. “Our town is
so small it has one and only one cell tower...”

So is ours. We have a bunch of antennae on the municipal water tower which unsurprisingly is atop the higest point in the village. I negotiated the original contracts.

Now when I'm walking around I see small fill-in cell antennas on phone poles.

In many countries it is quite common for MNOs to allow access to each
other's towers in rural areas to improve coverage. Dunno how common
that is here. Until relatively recently they usually couldn't becuase
the systems weren't technically compatible, e.g. AT&T GSM vs VZ CDMA.

--
Regards,
John Levine, [email protected], Primary Perpetrator of "The Internet for Dummies",
Please consider the environment before reading this e-mail. https://jl.ly

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