A new MVNO model may be emerging as traditional approaches—mainly competing on price and ever-larger data bundles—begin to show their limits. With hundreds of operators active in markets like Spain and consolidation already underway, the opportunity is to rethink the fundamentals: radical transparency with no fine print, a creator-centric approach that connects telecom services with digital communities, and a fully digital, AI-driven operation. Instead of complex bundles filled with services many users no longer rely on, the concept focuses on simple, real-time pay-as-you-go pricing and communities rather than conventional subscribers—designed especially for a generation that has largely moved beyond traditional voice and SMS.
Shape Shifters – MVNOs as Digital Transformation Catalysts
In the digital era, Mobile Virtual Network Operators are increasingly positioned to act as adaptive platforms rather than traditional telecom resellers, and the Value Disciplines framework provides a useful lens to understand how they can evolve into catalysts of transformation. By anchoring their strategy in Customer Intimacy, Operational Excellence, or Product Leadership, MVNOs can shape distinct paths to value creation while still integrating elements of all three. Customer Intimacy enables deep understanding of usage behavior and the delivery of hyper-personalized services through advanced data analytics and AI; Operational Excellence focuses on streamlining service delivery, automation, and cost efficiency to provide reliable connectivity at attractive price points; and Product Leadership encourages the development of distinctive, ecosystem-driven offerings that align closely with emerging customer needs. When supported by a platform-based operating model, strong partnerships, and agile talent structures, these disciplines allow MVNOs to move beyond connectivity provision and actively influence the design of digital services, experiences, and business models across the broader telecom ecosystem.
Travel eSIM Distribution Strategy: How Brands Build Channels That Scale
What the market learned about channel sequencing, product readiness, and the conflict nobody plans for. There is a pattern in travel eSIM distribution. Brands build the eSIM product, open an API for resellers, get listed on marketplaces - before the offer can sell on...
Why technology parity is a must for MVNOs today
Technology parity is a critical clause for MVNOs, ensuring they gain access to the same network capabilities and new technologies as their host operators, allowing them to compete on equal terms and maintain service quality. As innovations like satellite-to-mobile connectivity accelerate—supported by regulators such as Ofcom and rapidly commercialised by operators like Vodafone and T-Mobile—MVNOs without parity risk falling behind. However, while parity secures access, it does not guarantee favorable pricing, meaning MVNOs must still build commercially viable propositions, making forward-looking contract design essential for long-term competitiveness.
AI 2026 Roadmap — Phase 1 Execution
As MVNOs move from experimentation to real AI-driven outcomes, the first priority in 2026 is not building sophisticated models but establishing reliable data foundations. Phase 1 of the AI roadmap focuses on preparing and validating operational data such as call detail records, sales transactions, and customer lifecycle information. By cleaning source data, stabilizing pipelines, and introducing automated validation checks, MVNOs can ensure that analytics and machine learning models are built on trustworthy inputs.
At the core of this phase is the deployment of a Feature Store, a centralized environment where engineered variables derived from operational data are standardized, documented, and reused across teams. This shared repository allows product, finance, customer care, and data science teams to access consistent datasets for both model training and live operational decisions. By structuring features around themes such as usage patterns, revenue behavior, lifecycle indicators, and network performance, MVNOs can accelerate the development of high-impact use cases including churn prediction, fraud detection, and personalized plan recommendations.
Once these data foundations are in place, subsequent phases of the roadmap can focus on deploying machine learning models directly into operational workflows, turning AI initiatives into measurable improvements in customer retention, operational efficiency, and revenue performance.
Brazil Mobile Market: Shifting Dynamics
Brazil’s mobile market in 2025 illustrates a familiar pattern in mature telecom sectors: slow consumer growth alongside rapid expansion in machine connectivity. While total mobile connections increased by just over 2.5%, the consumer segment grew only marginally, confirming that smartphone penetration is approaching saturation. Within this environment, MVNOs are gaining ground by capturing subscribers from traditional operators rather than expanding the overall market. At the same time, the M2M/POS segment has become the sector’s primary growth engine, adding 6.6 million new connections and reaching roughly 54 million total subscriptions. This double-digit growth reflects the accelerating adoption of IoT applications across industries such as payments, logistics, utilities, and agribusiness. Meanwhile, the continued rollout of 5G is driving a technological transition, with Brazil surpassing 58 million 5G connections in 2025. However, most of this expansion reflects migration from legacy networks rather than new subscriber growth, and adoption remains overwhelmingly concentrated in the consumer segment. Together, these trends suggest that while the traditional mobile market is consolidating, machine connectivity and emerging 5G capabilities may define the next phase of growth in Brazil’s telecom sector.
MVNOs at MWC 2026 Special Edition
This year marks the 20th anniversary of Mobile World Congress being hosted in the beautiful city of Barcelona and believe it (or not because I scarcely can) it’s my 15th year attending this undeniably important event. MWC is absolutely a vibe - whether it’s your vibe...
When advertising moves inside AI telco’s old playbook starts to fray
As AI assistants and large language models reshape how consumers search, compare, and purchase products, the traditional telco “plan grid” is starting to look outdated. Instead of browsing static tiles filled with gigabytes and inclusions, users are increasingly asking for personalised recommendations delivered in a single conversational response. Other industries—from streaming platforms to digital-first consumer brands—have already mastered attention, relevance, and creative variation at scale. Telecommunications, however, continues to rely on catalogue-style presentation in a world moving toward intelligent curation. For MVNOs in particular, this shift represents a timely opportunity: to design simpler, more adaptable offers that can be surfaced dynamically within AI-driven conversations. In a market where attention is scarce and recommendations replace comparison tables, relevance—not range—will define the next competitive edge.
Where Control Creates Value: Why Flexibility and Visibility are the New Competitive Edge
Connectivity has become a commodity. The new source of competitive advantage for MVNOs and IoT providers lies in control—over how connectivity behaves, where traffic is routed, and how services adapt to different use cases. This article explores why flexibility, visibility, and software-defined architectures are now commercial differentiators, and how operators that build value above the access layer can shift from selling data volumes to delivering reliability, compliance, and operational simplicity.
A Business Plan: What Is It Really For?
A business plan is more than a regulatory requirement or an investor document — it is the foundation for securing a host operator agreement. This article explores what MNOs truly look for when evaluating an MVNO proposal: credible volume forecasts, financial strength, operational readiness, regulatory compliance, brand protection, and strategic alignment. By understanding the host operator’s mindset and aligning the business case accordingly, MVNOs can turn a formal document into a powerful negotiation tool that builds trust, reduces perceived risk, and unlocks successful wholesale partnerships.
