Today, there are well over 2,000 MVNOs worldwide, and the view is that market growth will continue. Experts predict the global MVNO market value will reach $149 billion by 2030, a 77% increase from $84 billion in 2023.
Media attention is supercharging the market as more big-name brands and celebrities invest in the industry. However, the MVNO trend has been building for decades. What is so special about this moment?
As AI improves, hyper-personalised MVNO services will become the norm. AI virtual assistants will quickly and effectively fix customer support issues and offer instant contract modifications, supporting your real-time device usage. Additionally, consumers can easily switch between providers as their needs change thanks to AI automation and eSIMs.
The attention inherent in the notion of celebrity is helping to drive the MVNO trend. It’s a self-perpetuating cycle as more celebrities launch MVNOs, more will join the bandwagon.
Three such celebrities are Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, and Sean Hayes, who launched the MVNO Smartless in June 2025. They aim to halve mobile bills for users with unlimited data contracts who don’t realise they mainly use WIFI connections.
Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, and Sean Hayes from Smartless.
- Enhancing customer experience through partnerships that improve operations, speed up deployments and increase features.
- Leveraging existing resources. MNOs can employ existing resources to capture MVNO market share. MNOs launching sub-branded and celebrity-branded MVNOs using, for example, excess 5G network capacity, can generate revenue and streamline operations. Voxi is an example of Vodafone targeting a market segment through a sub-branded MVNO, and T-Mobile is actively pushing MVNO launches on their network through their “Your Name, Our Wireless” campaign.
- Partnering with MVNEs and MVNAs makes it easier to leverage and customise network features and utilise MNO networks.
Network flexibility
Consumer demand, technology, awareness and business strategies are spurring growth, but flexible network solutions allow it all to happen. The MVNO trend would cease without the ability to integrate the latest AI platforms, manage traffic across multi-generation networks and easily configure systems.
At the core of the current MVNO trend are highly flexible vendor solutions. These solutions enable efficient and effective optimisation of networks and rapid deployment of new services.
“It’s clear that customer experience is at the heart of MVNO success. Therefore, the MVNOs that will survive and thrive are those that can rapidly adapt to changing customer needs and take advantage of new technologies.
“Flexible solutions are going to make the difference. Interoperability, efficiency and easy configuration are critical for success.”
Douglas Bryce, Marketing Communications Specialist at Squire Technologies
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