Hon Hai May end up Selling the iPhone 6 in China as an MVNO
A mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) is a wireless communications services provider that does not own the wireless network infrastructure over which the MVNO provides services to its customers. An MVNO enters into a business agreement with a mobile network operator to obtain bulk access to network services at wholesale rates, and then sets retail prices independently. A news story out of China on Friday claims that Hon Hai will likely be gaining a MVNO licence to enter this market in China. I don't think it's a stretch to say the very company that makes the iPhone will be able to sell the iPhone to increase their profit margins.
According to Taiwan's TechNews, China is about to issue the fourth batch of mobile network virtual operator (MNVO) license soon. And these MNVOs are likely to include Haier, Hainan Airlines, Hon Hai, Lenovo, Xiaomi and other companies, cited the informed sources.
The MNVOs are equivalent to the agents of China's three major telecom operators (China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom), reselling the communications services.
To be specific, the MNVOs will be in charge of part of communication networks and provide consumers with a complete telecommunications service by self-building the billing system and management system.
The emergence of MNVOs is to adjust the traditional operators' business focus to the network infrastructure and service provider, so that the former can be engaged in the functional business. In short, the MNVOs are leasing the communication networks to provide more professional services.
At present there are more questions than there are answers. Yet this could be an interesting development in 2015. Just how Apple would work with Hon Hai on this service in the future is unknown. Yet perhaps the more important question is, how will Apple's current carrier partners react to Apple working with the very company that makes the iPhone?
For now we know that Hon Hai is one of the new potential MNVO's listed to provide telecom services in China in the future. I'm sure that Terry Gou, a Taiwanese tycoon who founded Hon Hai / Foxconn, will be the first to fill us all in on the details when or if this is ever made official.
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