Malware
Software designed to infiltrate or damage a computer system without the owner’s informed consent.

MAN
Metropolitan area network

Market efficiency gap
Universal access theory that exhorts policy-makers and regulators to use market forces and remove regulatory hurdles that get in the way of reaching universal access goals.

MBMS
Multimedia broadcast multicast service.
A broadcasting service developed by the Third-Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) that provides mobile TV over 3G cellular networks

MDF
Main distribution frame (ITU-T Q.9 (88), 5005).
A distribution frame to which are connected on one side the lines exterior to the exchange, and on the other side the internal cabling of the exchange.

MDGs
Millennium Development Goals agreed to by all the world’s countries and all the world’s leading development institutions at the Millennium Summit of the United Nations (New York, 2000) and contained in the United Nations Millennium Declaration.

MediaFLO
Media forward link only.

Media gateway
A translation unit between disparate telecommunication networks such as PSTN; NGN; and 2G, 2.5G and 3G radio access networks. Media gateways enable multimedia communications across next-generation networks over multiple transport protocols such as ATM and IP.

Mesh network
A way to route data, voice and instructions between nodes. It allows for continuous connections and reconfiguration around blocked paths by “hopping” from node to node until a connection can be established.

Mobile
As used in this report, the term refers to mobile cellular systems and to mobile phones.

Mobile banking (or m-banking)
Financial services provided over a mobile phone.

Mobile TV
Wireless transmission and reception of video and voice television content to platforms that are either moving or capable of moving. The transmission can be over a dedicated broadcast network or a cellular network.

MOS
Mean opinion score.

MP3
MPEG-1 audio layer-3 (MPEG stands for Moving Pictures Experts Group). A standard technology and format for compression of a sound sequence into a very small file (about onetwelfth the size of the original file) while preserving the original level of sound quality when it is played.

MPEG
Moving Pictures Experts Group.
An ISO/ITU universal standard that compresses digital video for digital TV, DVDs and PVRs. MPEG-2 is used for digital TV STBs and DVDs. MPEG- 4 offers better compression technology to deliver multimedia for fixed and mobile video.

MPLS
Multi-protocol label switching.
A data-carrying mechanism that emulates some properties of a circuit- switched network over a packetswitched network. In practical terms, MPLS is a mechanism that allows the establishment of virtual paths (known as label switched paths) for an un-connected mode protocol. The most famous protocol used with MPLS is IP, even though MPLS is a multiprotocol mechanism.

MSAN
Multi-service access nodes.
A device typically installed in a telephone exchange that connects customers’ telephone lines to the core network and is able to provide telephony, ISDN, and broadband such as DSL all from a single platform.

MSP
Multi-stakeholder partnerships.

MSS
Mobile satellite service.

MTR
Mobile termination rate.

Multicast
A transmission from a single sender to multiple, specific receivers on a network. See also Unicast and Broadcast.

Multimedia
The presentation of more than one medium, typically images (moving or still), sound and text in an interactive environment. Multimedia requires a significant amount of data transfer and bandwidth, and it invariably requires computational facilities.

Multiplex
The transmission of more than one digital channel within a single frequency.

MVNE
Mobile virtual network enabler.

MVNO
Mobile virtual network operator.
A company that does not own a licensed frequency spectrum, but resells wireless services under their own brand name, using the network of another mobile phone operator.

MVPDs
Multichannel video-program distributors. An MVPD may be a cable operator or satellite TV operator that sells multiple channels of video programming.