abler (MVNE) provides a turnkey solution platform, such as a complete technology and services platform that offers everything from customer service and billing to custom content and value-added services. A typical mobile operator takes on many roles. It is natural that the operator should continue in the roles as network provider/access provider and service provider. It is of strategic importance for the operator to offer services to its customer base via an own-branded portal. Acting as a payment transaction handler and taking some percentages of each transac- tion is one way to increase revenues. Another way is to act as advertising broker, to help advertisers target adverts to the operator's customer base, and get a fee for doing that. For distribution of mobile media a value chain could look like Figure 4.28. The operator can be the sole actor regarding access, ISP and distribution. The operator or its partners can fulfil all the other roles in Figure 4.28. The content provider owns the content. The wireless caster provides the actual service. The service is developed by the application developer. The owner of the application owns and probably also brands the service. Portal providers set up portals from which the end user can find and access on-demand mobile media services. On a service-by-service basis, the operator may decide which of these roles it wants to keep for itself. There is a trade-off between providing all the elements in a complete service (thus reaping all the revenues and carrying the entire risk) and offering a product that is a component in a service (reduced risk). I-mode has shown that only a fraction of services is successful. The sequential value chain will often be combined with horizontal roles, especially transport providers. See for example Figure 4.24. This gives service providers on top of transport providers. CNN.com Mobile Network network provider/ TOYOTA operator Service AMERICAN YAHOO! EXPRESS provider Microsoft AmericanAirlines Figure 4.27 The service layer business environme