NPR. This is the indicator from Planet Money. I'm Waylon Wong.

And I'm Darren Woods.

And I'm Adrian Ma.

And it is time for another edition of Listener Questions.

That's where we collect some of your burning questions and find the answers.

Today we're looking at women returning to the workforce,

labor unions, are they good or bad for the economy?

And what is up with Ryan Reynolds talking cell phone plans all the time.

This is the big one, so that's all coming up after the break.

All right, listener questions.

First up, we have Nick from Brooklyn.

Hello indicator team, longtime listener, first time questioner.

In the spring of this year, it was announced that T-Mobile was going to acquire mobile

virtual network operator or MBNO mint mobile.

And it got me thinking.

Since MBNOs technically resell cellular service

from the large cellular carriers.

How does an MV&O make a profit?

As Nick says, Mint Mobile uses the T-Mobile network

but operates independently as its own company.

This is what's commonly referred to as a mobile virtual network operator. Full

disclosure, Mint is also an NPR sponsor. So Mint provides cell service but doesn't actually

...