The difference between a mobile operator platform business model and a wholesale-based pipeline model often is not easy to decipher. We might agree that tier-one mobile operators do not operate using a platform business model, that hinges on the creation of marketplaces or ecosystems that connect participants.
Instead, tier-one mobile operators generally create their own branded services and sell them to customers. Mobile virtual network operators, on the other hand, might or might not use a platform model. Most source capacity wholesale and then sell at retail, which makes them traditional product suppliers rather than platforms.
Truphone, for example, is an MVNO that operates as a classic “pipeline” company: it creates its own product and sells to customers, sourcing wholesale capacity from scores of mobile operators globally.
GigSky, on the other hand, which offers mobile internet access roaming, might appear to operate similarly. It enables mobile roaming service in some 190 countries, hosting a platform that allows travelers to purchase temporary internet access service when outside their home countries.
But GigSky’s app essentially maps traveler demand with mobile operator supply. It acts as a marketplace for internet access roaming.
Some might view that as similar to the way any mobile virtual network operator conducts business: buying wholesale capacity from a facilities-based wholesaler and then retailing service under the MVNO’s own brand name.
TruConnect is another MVNO that might appear to use a platform business model. TruConnect buys wholesale from T-Mobile, then sells its branded service to customers, with a focus on the value market.
But TruConnect does not use a platform business model. It creates its own service using wholesale mechanisms, then brands its offer and sells service to customers. It does not connect potential buyers with many sellers as a marketplace does.
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