MVNO

A mobile virtual network operator: a carrier that sells service under its own brand using another operator's physical network.

An MVNO has customers and SIM cards but rents the actual towers from a host operator. Numbers issued by MVNOs are real mobile numbers in every practical sense and normally pass verification checks like any carrier number.

The distinction matters mainly for coverage economics, not for verification, though a few platforms score obscure MVNO ranges more cautiously.