A Softwarized Paradigm for Mobile Virtual Networks: Overcoming a Lack of Access Infrastructure

Market analysis reports suggest that the mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) market will experience subscriber growth at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.7% from 2014 to 2020. This optimistic news presents great opportunities as well as many challenges. The major issue lies in the MVNOs' lack of spectrum allocation and an end-to-end network infrastructure, which means they must rely on mobile network operators (MNOs) for wireless access network connectivity to service their customers. In this article, we propose an approach that provides alternative wireless access methods to enable MVNOs to minimize their dependency on MNO networks. This leverages the fifth-generation (5G) softwarization technologies to provide selective multipath device-to-infrastructure (D2I) connections and service assortments. Supervised by software-defined networking (SDN)-based edge controllers, the multipath D2I connections provide flexible user data delivery over available communication resources without strict consideration of the MNO's infrastructure restraints. Additionally, a priority-based classification policy is applied to user data providing service assortments before it reaches the network infrastructure. Multiple pilot scenarios are implemented to verify the feasibility and performance tradeoff between the communication metrics of the proposed approach.