2024 & 2025 were the years the MVNO business stopped being ‘cheap gigabytes resold at scale’ and became something very different. The market is shifting under our feet: travel eSIMs are exploding, network APIs are opening, 5G SA is finally real, and AI is no longer a buzzword but a cost-saver, churn-killer and differentiator. This list may be outdated in months – such is the speed of our industry, which is why choosing the right vendors, technology, and partners matters.
If you run an MVNO in the US whether you’re bootstrapped, venture-backed, or building for your parent brand these are the five battles you must win this year.
1. Own the traveler before someone else does
Travel eSIM providers grew revenue ~85% in 2025 and hit ~$1.8B, with 2026 expected to be even more competitive. Travelers open an app, buy a regional plan, and skip roaming entirely. If we’re not part of that journey, we lose them.
Add a travel eSIM add-on inside your app. Simple day/week bundles, clear pricing, no friction. There are plug-and-play solutions ready for MVNOs today.
2. Differentiate with network features, not gigabytes
More than 90 operators worldwide launched 5G SA last year, and 65 network-slicing offers hit the market. This is the moment to stop selling commodity data and start selling experience.
AT&T’s Turbo Live is a great example download an eSIM and get dedicated QoS based on geo-location. Being at a concert or sports event and streaming without lag is now a product, not a dream.
3. Make AI work where it counts
AI is finally driving real results: hyper-personalized offers, automated care, fraud detection. In MVNO operations, AI isn’t a feature it’s a margin engine.
The operators who win with AI are the ones who start before they’re ‘ready.’ While one EU operator spent months on requirement documents and governance boards, another simply spun up a small team and began coding using real transcripts and billing data.
Within weeks, they had:
- An AI care agent handling real traffic
- Early wins resolving simple queries automatically
- Anomaly-detection models flagging leakage across roaming and interconnect
- A team learning AI by doing AI
Meanwhile, the first operator was still debating which internal system should be the ‘master source of customer truth.’ This gap will define winners and losers.
So stop planning AI and start using AI. Ship something small. Iterate weekly. Momentum wins.
4. Compliance matters more than ever
Yes, it’s the boring part. But the regulatory environment is tightening. MVNOs need partners and platforms that make compliance easier not harder. Features that support auditability, transparency, identity, lawful requests, and fraud controls will separate the scalable from the stagnant.
5. How Satellite Will Impact the MVNO Space
Satellite-to-phone is no longer a future concept. In 2026, it becomes something every MVNO must plan for. What started as emergency-only messaging is turning into integrated coverage. Analysts expect over 30 live services and another 30 launching this year. Direct-to-device satellite offerings from Apple–Globalstar, Vodafone–AST SpaceMobile, and T-Mobile–Starlink are becoming more accessible.
Customers will increasingly expect their phone to ‘just work’ even outside terrestrial coverage. Goodbye coverage maps. Hello borderless fallback. And the real question is: will satellite remain fallback, or become a default expectation?
2026: The year MVNOs evolve or fade!
The winners aren’t the biggest they’re the most adaptive. Own travel, differentiate via network features, operationalize AI, secure your API footprint, and embrace compliance-by-design. The future MVNO is faster, smarter, and everywhere the customer is even in the place’s towers can’t reach.
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