As the world turns into a global village, connectivity has become important among businesses and people.
To help businesses and people stay connected irrespective of geographic locations, telecom companies have been offering attractive options to their users. One of them is virtual roaming numbers.
A virtual roaming number is a telephone number that is not limited to a specific phone device, area code, or line. Unlike traditional landlines that are physically connected to a location and designed to work over a single phone line or a mobile number that is typically tethered to a specific mobile service for coverage; a virtual roaming number is more flexible and devoid of physical constraint. So, even a company that is based in Asia can show its local presence in the US or UK by using a virtual number.
A virtual roaming number is flexible and saves costs on hardware and maintenance.
Considering that the virtual roaming number offers so many benefits to businesses and end-users; it makes a strong case for telecom companies to extend it as one of their services.
Here’s how telecom companies could benefit from the virtual roaming number.
Value Of Virtual Roaming Number For Telecom Companies
Opportunity to expand to new markets and expand penetration onto existing markets
The telecom industry is a fragmented industry that struggles to find ways to create revenue opportunities and new business models. Virtual numbers can help provide an attractive option to address that.
A virtual number is an online number. So, there are more opportunities for operators to expand and penetrate new and existing markets. In many ways, it may also be easier to get a license for operating a virtual number. Virtual number operators (VNO) can offer unique services and unique value propositions to a specific group of users in new markets to gain a competitive advantage. It can help them to acquire new subscribers for their service. For example, they can offer low-cost connectivity to people living in developing countries. A virtual network operator can also help in solving the teledensity issues in remote areas by investing in them. This can help them to gain more subscribers and penetrate deeper into existing markets where reach is less.
Attract more inbound roamers
According to a study, mobile operators earned$21 billion from roaming. Inbound roamers have captured the fancy of telecom operators for a long time. This solution enables them to offer competitive pricing and unique services to these users. It also enables them to capture loyalty if the user visits the place frequently for business or to meet their family or relatives. Virtual numbers are useful for frequent travelers as they can enjoy the benefits of a local number and make and receive calls effortlessly. As soon as an inbound roamer enters a place, they can obtain a prepaid local number roaming (PLNR) without changing their SIM. Once they activate the prepaid number, they can avail of all the local services until their stay. They can top up the virtual number easily and also use it for their future visits. Considering the value and convenience it offers to inbound roamers, operators must consider offering these services to gain more subscribers.
Minimal to zero investment in infrastructure
Virtual network operators do not have to duplicate infrastructure. Network Service Operators (NSO) who invest heavily in spectrum licenses can enter into a sharing model with virtual network operators. It creates a win-win situation for both. The VNO can minimize additional expenditure on infrastructure. If they are a new entrant, they can expand their services easily. The NSO, on the other hand, can earn a recurring income from the VNO and optimally monetize its resources. This helps them to minimize the losses incurred due to high operational costs.
Better service to users
In continuation with the point above, by sharing the infrastructure costs, the telecom operators can reduce the cost of service delivery. This benefit eventually gets passed on to their customers in the form of attractive pricing. Typically, a virtual roaming number works on an all-in-one model, i.e. it offers all types of services such as calling, messaging, VoIP, video conferencing, and data services. Considering that it blurs the lines between network and services, it will soon be able to offer better-bundled services to the users. It will give the power of choice to users.
The virtual roaming number plays well into the themes that are relevant to the future of the telecom industry by being more customer-centric. We have attractive and easy-to-deploy solutions for innovative and future-focused telecom operators who wish to offer . These solutions will help them acquire more users and stay a step ahead of the competition.