Resources · Glossary
Plain definitions of the terms that come up when you build a mobile business. What each one means, where it sits, and what it changes for you. Seven terms, two sentences each, then the detail if you want it.
The brand
The platform
Getting a profile onto a device
The network
Every term here is one of these boxes. Most arguments about telecoms architecture are arguments about which box a job belongs in.
Mobile Virtual Network Enabler
An MVNE (Mobile Virtual Network Enabler) provides the platform an MVNO runs on: billing, provisioning, carrier integrations and the systems that serve customers. The MVNO owns the brand, the plans and the subscribers, and the MVNE runs the technology underneath.
Read the full definition of MVNEMobile Virtual Network Aggregator
An MVNA (Mobile Virtual Network Aggregator) buys wholesale mobile capacity from host operators in volume and resells it to MVNOs. It sits in the commercial path between the MVNO and the network, and takes a margin on the connectivity it passes through.
Read the full definition of MVNABusiness Support Systems
BSS (Business Support Systems) is the software that runs the commercial side of a telecoms business: product catalogue, ordering, charging, billing, payments, CRM and self-service. It turns a plan into an order, an order into an invoice, and a subscriber into a customer record.
Read the full definition of BSSOperations Support Systems
OSS (Operations Support Systems) is the software that runs the technical side of a telecoms business: provisioning, activation, service inventory, assurance and fault handling. It turns a sold plan into a working service, and keeps it working.
Read the full definition of OSSSubscription Manager Data Preparation +
The SM-DP+ is the server that prepares, protects and delivers eSIM profiles to devices. It is the GSMA-defined component that turns an operator subscription into an eSIM a phone can download and install.
Read the full definition of SM-DP+embedded Universal Integrated Circuit Card
An eUICC is a SIM that can hold more than one operator profile and be reprogrammed over the air. eSIM is what people call the experience; eUICC is the chip specification that makes it possible.
Read the full definition of eUICCeSIM IoT Remote Manager
An eIM (eSIM IoT Remote Manager) manages eSIM profiles on devices that have no screen and no user to tap through a download. It was introduced by GSMA SGP.32 so that device fleets can be provisioned and switched remotely.
Read the full definition of eIMCatalogue, billing, provisioning, activation and eSIM delivery on one core, run on automation. Book a demo and we will map it to the mobile business you are building.