On the eve of the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association's Wireless 2005 event in New Orleans, I am incredibly proud of our space. Wireless is no longer merely a technology, it has successfully grown from a predominantly voice-centric medium to include a wide variety of multimedia applications, evolving along the way into a cultural presence. Such a development is exciting to appreciate, but it also presents new challenges.

I am often asked to identify some of the most important factors in finding talent to grow a successful mobile virtual network operator, or MVNO. As a staffing partner to several recent MVNOs, I realize it is critical to identify the energy behind each individual MVNO before approaching the recruitment process. To work, staffing and value proposition philosophy must be consistent, so it is critical to first understand how each potential competitor intends to significantly increase the value proposition in the market rather than merely replicating the carrier status quo.

Some examples of that effort might be to provide better customer care, pricing, handsets, content, experience or distribution. Virgin Mobile, for instance, successfully differentiated itself by accentuating the youth, prepaid and cool factors. 7-Eleven focused on convenience. Meanwhile, ESPNMobile is absolutely determined to heighten the sports experience for its dedicated consumer audience.

Each successful team member in an MVNO venture must understand that a successful MVNO is predicated by evolution or revolution, but never replication. Therefore, everyone involved must be ready for — and excited by — the opportunity to apply their respective skillsets to that ideal.

Because both mindset and skillset are vital in realizing such success, each candidate for an MVNO venture must bring not only the requisite technical capabilities and a highly specific work history to the table, but also something more intangible: Each must possess a comprehensive understanding of the MVNO's overall objective and its ideal. My wife, who is both a proponent and product of the liberal arts degree, would use such an example to make her point regarding the critical importance of recognizing the whole.

Certainly, each team member must be at the top of his or her respective fields of specialization. But each also must appreciate his or her role in bringing about a greater and more comprehensive good in the MVNO space, clearly understanding the why of the MVNO in addition to the how.

Those are incredibly challenging and exciting questions that are certain to be posed at this year's CTIA event and put to the test in the months and years ahead.

DOSSIER: MATTHEW CORBETT

Occupation: Founder of IdealWave Solutions, a full-service search agency for the global wireless markets.

Location: Boston

Favorite Web site: www.espn.com

Current reading: “London” by Edward Rutherford and “Futureconsumer.com” by Frank Feather

What's on your iPod? Ray Charles, “Genius Loves Company”

What's next: MVNO buildout