# What Is MPLS? MPLS Networks Explained

MPLS, Multiprotocol Label Switching, is the technology inside most providers' core networks, and the basis of the private WANs that join many organisations' sites together. This guide explains what MPLS is, what an MPLS network means for a business, and why it is still the foundation of a private WAN.

By Chris Byrd

27 October 2026

[Connectivity & WAN](https://netavo.com/insights)

## MPLS in one paragraph

In an ordinary IP network, every router looks at each packet's destination address and decides where to send it next. In an MPLS network, the provider's edge router attaches a short label to each packet as it enters, and the routers in the core forward it by that label along a path the network has already worked out. The label is removed as the packet leaves. Forwarding by label rather than by address is what lets one core carry many separate customer networks at once, each kept apart from the others and from the internet.

## What 'MPLS network' means to a business

When a business buys an MPLS network, what it is usually buying is an **MPLS VPN** : a private network built across a provider's MPLS core. Each office, shop or datacentre connects to the provider's nearest edge, and the provider keeps that business's traffic in its own virtual network, separate from every other customer and from the public internet.

The most common form is a **Layer 3 MPLS VPN**, in which the provider routes between the customer's sites. Every site can reach every other directly, which is called any-to-any, and the business uses its own addressing throughout. To the business it behaves like one private routed network spanning every location.

## The parts of an MPLS network

| Term | What it means |
| --- | --- |
| Label | A short tag added to each packet so the core can forward it without reading the full address |
| PE router | Provider edge: where a customer site connects, and where labels are added and removed |
| P router | Provider core: forwards labelled packets between the edges |
| CE router | Customer edge: the router at the customer's site |
| VRF | A separate routing table on the PE for each customer, which is what keeps customer networks apart |
| MPLS VPN | A customer's private network across the MPLS core, built from its VRFs |

## Why organisations use MPLS

**Privacy.** Traffic between sites stays on the provider's network and never crosses the public internet. Isolation is a property of the network itself rather than something added with encryption.

**Predictability.** Traffic runs across one operator's network end to end, so latency and loss between sites are properties of that network, monitored by the provider, rather than of several internet paths no one controls.

**One accountable provider.** The access, the core and the routing between sites come from one operator, which is responsible for finding and fixing faults.

**More than sites.** Because an MPLS VPN is a private routed network, other things can join it: mobile failover for each site, remote workers, cloud environments through private interconnects such as AWS Direct Connect or Azure ExpressRoute, and fleets of IoT devices on private SIMs.

## MPLS, internet VPNs and SD-WAN

The alternatives to MPLS join sites across the internet instead. Site-to-site internet VPNs build encrypted tunnels between offices; SD-WAN adds software that builds those tunnels across several internet connections and chooses between them. Both rely on encryption to make the internet acceptable, and neither changes the internet paths underneath.

We set out why we think MPLS remains the better choice for most organisations whose sites depend on each other in [MPLS vs SD-WAN](https://netavo.com/insights/mpls-vs-sd-wan), and what SD-WAN does and does not do in [what is SD-WAN](https://netavo.com/insights/what-is-sd-wan).

## MPLS from Netavo

Netavo provides [private MPLS networks](https://netavo.com/services/mpls) on its own core: any-to-any Layer 3 MPLS VPNs over Ethernet, FTTP, FTTC and mobile access, with central or local internet breakout, and mobile failover, IoT SIMs, hosted voice, remote workers and cloud interconnect on the same private network.

## Common questions

### What does MPLS stand for?

MPLS stands for Multiprotocol Label Switching: a way of forwarding traffic across a provider's network by short labels rather than by reading each packet's full address.

### What is an MPLS network?

To a business, an MPLS network is usually an MPLS VPN: a private network across a provider's MPLS core that joins its sites, kept separate from other customers and from the internet.

### Is MPLS a VPN?

An MPLS VPN is a VPN built inside a provider's network rather than across the internet. It keeps each customer's traffic separate by routing, not by encrypting it over public connections.

### Is MPLS still used?

Yes. MPLS runs inside most providers' core networks and remains the basis of private WANs for organisations whose sites depend on shared systems and voice.

### Is MPLS secure?

An MPLS VPN keeps traffic off the public internet and separate from other customers, which removes the internet as a path into the network. Sensitive applications should still use their own encryption.

## Related services and sectors

### [MPLS Network Provider: Private MPLS WAN for Business](https://netavo.com/services/mpls)

Any-to-any MPLS VPN on our own core, joining sites, cloud, IoT SIMs, voice and remote workers on one private WAN.

### [Private Cloud Interconnect: Direct Connect and ExpressRoute](https://netavo.com/services/cloud-interconnect)

AWS Direct Connect, Azure ExpressRoute and Google Cloud Interconnect joined to your MPLS WAN or IoT SIM fleet.

### [Connectivity & WAN](https://netavo.com/services/connectivity)

Fibre and Ethernet access, private WAN and resilient connectivity, from a single site to a national estate.

### [Retail & Multi-site Estates](https://netavo.com/sectors/retail-and-multi-site)

Fibre, Ethernet and private networking for branches and head offices, with mobile failover and estate telephony.

### [IT & Managed Service Providers](https://netavo.com/sectors/it-and-managed-service-providers)

Customer-site connectivity, private WAN, mobile failover and cloud voice delivered for IT and managed service providers.

## Plan an MPLS network

Tell us which sites need to join and what runs between them. We will come back with a design, the access options at each address and pricing.

[Work with us](https://netavo.com/work-with-us)

Chris Byrd

CTO, Netavo Global Data Services Ltd

Chris leads Netavo's engineering: the AS208802 network, its broadband and BNG platforms, and the mobile core behind its IoT SIMs.

[Chris Byrd on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisbyrd)

Source: https://netavo.com/insights/what-is-mpls