Before Building Your Core Network, Is Your MVNO Actually Compliant?
Many MVNO projects start with the technical team rushing to build the core network. Selecting equipment, defining the architecture, testing performance – it all seems straightforward. But in the real business world, one rule is often overlooked: technology cannot outrun regulation. You may have a perfectly tuned 4G and 5G core in the lab, but if your license is not in place, your interconnection agreement with the host MNO is unsigned, and your compliance roadmap remains a blank sheet, then the entire project is like a building without a foundation. It looks promising, but it can be stopped at any moment.
This is not an exaggeration. Looking at MVNO practices worldwide, most project delays and failures come not from a lack of technical capability, but from compliance lagging behind. By the time the core network is fully deployed, you discover conflicts between regulatory requirements and your technical design. The cost of rework is high, and the launch window is missed. To address this challenge, IPLOOK proposes a practical approach: a dual track strategy. This means that from day one, licensing and compliance planning must run in parallel with technical design, rather than waiting for one to finish before starting the other.
The first pillar of the dual track strategy is licensing and compliance. This is not a back office task that can be fixed later. It is the strategic foundation that determines whether your MVNO business model can succeed. You need to answer several key questions upfront. Is your business goal a light MVNO or a full MVNO? The two models differ significantly in core network control, dependence on the MNO, and profit models. Choosing the wrong model may force you to scrap your technical design later. Have you secured your host MNO interconnection agreement before finalizing technical specifications? Without clear interconnection terms, any decision about signaling, routing, or billing carries high uncertainty. You also need to understand local regulatory requirements for data retention, lawful interception, and number portability. These are not details you can easily patch after the fact.
The second pillar is cloud native core deployment. While the compliance path is being clarified, the technical team does not have to wait idle. On the contrary, IPLOOK’s cloud native core solution allows you to run engineering validation in parallel within a compliance framework. A converged core design supports both 4G and 5G on a single architecture, protecting your investment while maintaining agility. Deployed on public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, the core scales elastically and iterates quickly. Whether for IoT use cases or consumer services, you can go live as soon as compliance conditions are met. With compliance guidance from the beginning, your core network topology, network function selection, and interface protocols become more targeted instead of being built blindly.
The core value of the dual track strategy is not to slow down for compliance, but to prevent compliance from becoming a bottleneck. While your technical team is still designing the core network, the compliance team is already advancing the license and agreements. Once regulatory approval is granted, the core network is already integrated, tested, and ready for commercial service. This means the time from approval to monetization can be compressed to a minimum. In an increasingly competitive MVNO market, the operator that brings services to market faster captures user mindshare and roaming revenue.
At the end of the day, compliance and technology are never opposing choices. IPLOOK’s advice is simple: do not wait for your license to start technical design, and do not build your network blind without compliance. Running both tracks in parallel ensures that your MVNO has both the safety net of compliance and the acceleration of technology. If you are planning an MVNO project, ask yourself two questions starting today: Is my compliance roadmap clear? Is my core network ready to monetize the moment regulatory approval arrives? A dual track strategy lets your MVNO win before the starting line. IPLOOK helps MVNOs advance compliance and technical innovation together.
