ITU Telecom World 2018: Tim Sherwood, Vice President, Business Development, Mobility & IOT Solution

Tim welcome to the studio. Thank you now. I’d like to start off by talking about MVNOs mobile virtual network operators, perhaps you could tell us a little bit about what M V arrows are and what role they play in the today’s IC T’s landscape, sure so MVNOs, actually very, depending on different types of models That they employ some are very simple resellers mobile operator SIM cards, if you will, whereas others are more sophisticated and control more capabilities themselves, to operate and offer more specific plans that they want to target for their customer segments.

Traditionally, the env nose went after the consumer. Mass-Market targeted different types of specialized ethnic groups, low value, but what we’ve seen really recently is an emergence of a wide variety of MVNOs not only focused on the consumer model, but also in the enterprise space, particularly around IOT, and one of the key trends to be Reading out for in the MVNO industry that what we’re really keeping an eye out is enabling anyone, if you will to become an MVNO we’re seeing, particularly when, when you start talking about smart devices, the Internet of Things, that more and more enterprises are shifting from a Product model to a services model and connectivity becomes a key embedded ingredient of that.

So, while they don’t necessarily think of themselves as an M V, you know like a traditional consumer brand. They are, in essence, an MVNO as part of the broader service offering that they’re that they’re making and in terms of obstacles in this particular market. How might they be overcome there? So some of the obstacles that we see really center around envy knows that want to offer their services across multiple countries, and so working with different local operators in each country can be challenging in that the different method by which you can acquire and utilize their local Spectrum, their radio access can be, can be, can change across, and so then you become limited to the least common denominator of capabilities if you’re heavily reliant on the operators and so we’re seeing a movement more towards virtualized platforms that handle different types of subscriber management capabilities Policy charging different types of business rules that the env knows can operate as an overlay, above all the different radio networks from the partners they use.

So they can offer a consistent and seamless service across multiple countries across multiple operators and what about regulators? What kind of regulatory landscape would you like to see? Well, I think the regulator’s tend to be very much of a follower when it comes to different approaches and, in some cases, we’re seeing regulations that don’t necessarily put in advantage to an MV. You know one one example of that would be in India, which is still a large degree, a key market for us and there with some of the recent regulations.

They require a virtual network operator to be tied to a single operator, and what we’re seeing in other markets around the world is a key differentiation of an MVNO is actually that they’re providing coverage across multiple local operators and and so that that mesh value of multiple Underlying operators is critical for a value prop, let’s say in the US where I’m from, but because of the regulation in India.

You don’t see that so there are types of issues there that that we see that we think the regulators could be a little bit more forward. Thinking and looking at the NV, you know as a way to really enhance the and user value or the enterprise value, and they just need to be a little bit played a little bit more catch up by today. Talking about value, you’ve obviously taken the time and the distance has been traveled by you to be here, just wanted to find out.

So what’s the what’s the value attending events such as ITU telecom world, for you so for us we’re in the MVNO space. We actually look at ourselves as both as a mobile virtual network enabler as well as a virtual network operator, where we operate as an MVNO, we’re targeting or multinational companies our service provider customers to help them reach global scale in certain markets, particularly in Africa, and in Other emerging markets, we recognize that we may not have a strong local presence ourselves, and so we have and are seeking partnerships here to build a presence to kind of create a Federation or a coalition.

If you will – and so we see a lot of exciting things happening in places like Southern Africa with the explosion in terms of the opportunities for MVA knows both on the consumer side and the IOT side, and so we’re really looking at. How can we help? How can we extend some of our capabilities? How can we can enable our partners to be successful in the local markets that they specialize in Tim Sherwood? Thank you very much indeed.