MVNO Market Explodes – Data Confirms Over 60 Percent Growth
GSMA Chart showing 60% growth in global MVNO market over ten years
The global MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) market is undergoing a significant expansion, with the number of MVNOs growing by over 60% in the last decade. This surge is creating new dynamics in the telecom industry, distinguishing MVNOs as a vital and rapidly growing segment, according to a recent GSMA intelligence briefing.
While the number of traditional Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) has remained relatively stable (hovering between 850 and 950 globally), MVNOs have grown to 2,138 MVNOs in operation as of August 2025, with 283 more MVNOs expected soon – becoming an essential component of the connectivity ecosystem. This growth results in approximately 2.38 MVNOs for every MNO worldwide.
Regionally, Europe and the Asia-Pacific (APAC) remain the dominant forces in the MVNO landscape. Latin America (LATAM) has demonstrated explosive growth, increasing its MVNO count fivefold in the last 10 years, with emerging activity noted in African markets such as South Africa and Nigeria, which issued 46 MVNO licenses in 2022.
MVNO Market Landscape and Regional Dynamics
MVNOs are currently found in 100 markets.
- Leading MVNO Regions: Europe (1,056 MVNOs) and the Asia-Pacific (369 MVNOs) region continue to dominate the market share.
- Emerging MVNO Growth: Latin America (224 MVNOs) has seen significant growth, expanding at least fivefold over the past 10 years.
- Top 10 MVNO Markets: Markets like the US (179 MVNOs), Germany (136 MVNOs), UK (110 MVNOs), Japan (100 MVNOs), and Mexico (95 MVNOs).
A key takeaway is that the presence of MVNOs in a country is often defined by the ease of launch, which is tied to regulatory and licensing frameworks.
Core Value Propositions and Emerging MVNO Segments
The fundamental strategy for MVNOs has remained consistent: offering fair priced services and catering to niche segments. The top three business categories for MVNOs 10 years ago are largely the same today.
However, new opportunities are emerging:
- MVNO Categories: The GSMA briefing highlighted the rise of dedicated eSIM MVNOs and those targeting customers with Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) services.
- Full MVNOs: Full MVNOs, which operate all components of an MNO except for the spectrum and RAN network, are most prevalent in Europe.
MVNO Trends and Opportunities
The MVNO market is poised for continued expansion, with close to 300 new MVNOs planned for launch in the coming years, primarily in Europe and APAC, while Africa begins to show strong potential.
- Innovation as a Differentiator: MVNOs are moving beyond competitive mobile tariffs and focusing on leveraging new technologies like eSIM, AI, and 5G to drive service innovation and enhance their competitive edge.
- Digital Brands & CX: There is a growing focus on launching fully digital consumer propositions and brands. This, combined with a push for enhanced user experience and customer engagement, is seen as crucial for the next phase of growth and can help drive cost efficiencies.
- Ecosystem Collaboration: A strong network of vendors and operators (MNO, MVNA, MVNE) are eager to support MVNOs with platforms, analytics, and infrastructure, underscoring a healthy ecosystem ripe for growth.
Data-Driven Trends
- eSIM Acceleration: Global eSIM penetration is expected to double from 5% in 2025 to 10% in 2026, driven by milestones like Apple’s eSIM-only devices and the launch of services by Chinese operators. The rise of eSIM greatly assists MVNOs with distribution by reducing the need for physical stores and streamlining logistics. Currently, over 600 MVNOs offer eSIM services, with 56 being entirely eSIM-only. The travel eSIM use case is a particularly successful opportunity, showing a 45% year-on-year growth.
- B2B and IoT Growth: MVNOs are tapping into the digital transformation of enterprises. Roughly 7% of enterprises report currently working with MVNOs on their digital transformation journey, signalling vast opportunities in the B2B and IoT spaces.
- 5G Monetization: New avenues for revenue exist in utilizing 5G capabilities. MVNOs can offer niche, enhanced experiences via network slicing or by managing private network customers on behalf of MNOs.
- Convergent Offerings: MVNOs have also move into the bundling space, offering combined services such as fixed broadband, mobile, Pay-TV (PTV), and OTT platforms, similar to larger MNOs.
Conclusion and MVNO Future Outlook
The MVNO market has successfully transitioned from a competitive segment focused primarily on price to a dynamic ecosystem driven by specialization and technological enablement. With the number of MVNOs surging by over 60% and nearly 300 planned launches, the sector’s growth is undeniable.
The GSMA’s analysis points to a future defined by the MVNO’s ability to leverage specialized offerings and digital efficiencies. This forward momentum will be anchored by three key strategic shifts.
Firstly, MVNOs will be essential in capitalizing on 5G’s potential through highly dedicated offerings, such as securing network slices for specific industries, a capability that distinguishes the specialized MVNO model.
Secondly, the continued expansion of the B2B and IoT sectors represents a primary driver for specialist data MVNOs, which are forecast to see significant growth.
Lastly, this opportunity, combined with simplified entry models, is attracting a new generation of market entrants from non-traditional industries, including Fintechs, Retailers, and Media brands, which utilize mobile services as a strategic tool for customer loyalty and specialized service delivery rather than just traditional connectivity revenue.
Ultimately, the inherent agility and innovation of the MVNO model ensure its role remains critical in driving competition and providing niche, specialized connectivity solutions for the next phase of the global telecom landscape.
GSMA Video: Global MVNO Market: Key trends, eSIM growth & new opportunities (20-minute analyst briefing)
Speakers:
Radika Gupta (RG): Analyst, GSMA Intelligence
Pablo Yakopino (PY): Analyst, GSMA Intelligence
Introduction & MVNO Market Scale
[00:00:00] RG: welcome to the insights live webinar from GSMA intelligence and thank you everyone for joining in i am today joined by my colleague Pablo Yakopino and uh Pablo and me together will unveil a lot of MVNO insights for you in the next 20 minutes we have been doing a lot of great work in 2025 on the MVNO landscape and market and obviously we wanted to share it with the wider ecosystem and industry so before wasting any further time I’ll quickly bring up my screen
[00:01:13] RG: first and foremost why are we really talking about MVNOs’s and why do they matter so from my experience of working in this market for close to 15 years now I have always seen the number of telecom operators hovering around you know somewhere between 850 to 950 globally that number has kind of always remained in that range.
[00:01:55] RG: But MVNOs over the last decade were silently growing and over the course of last 10 years they have grown by more than 60%.
[00:02:11] RG: If you look at the data back in 2015 the markets that were really accounting for majority of the MVNO market were globally were like Europe and APAC that still continues to be the case 10 years later but new markets are also coming in picture. The MVNO market is emerging in some parts of Africa. LATAM in particular have grown at least fivefold in the last 10 years.
[00:03:13] RG: If you look at the business models that actually drove the MBNO market 10 years ago versus today they are more or less the same. The core value proposition of MBNOS’s always had been either discounted offerings or catering to niche segments. If you look at 2005 out of total MBNOS 26% of them were offering pure discounted services that number has only gone up.
[00:04:07] RG: New categories of MVNOs are emerging that are currently noted in others but in our 2026 report will feature more explicitly like you have eSIM MVNOs, you have MVNOs catering to FWA customers.
Global Distribution, Launches, and Shut Downs
[00:04:39] RG: This all sounds very rosy, more than 60% growth over the course of last decade, but here is the complete picture:
These 2,138 or 2,100 plus MBNOS are only coming from 100 markets globally.
Out of those 100 markets, the top 10 by numbers alone account for nearly half of the MBNOS.
The top countries are US (179 live) and Germany (136 live).
[00:05:24] RG: It’s important to also look at how many MBNOS over the course of last 15-20 years have shut down in these market:
You see a whopping 101 shut down in US against 179 live today.
115 shut down in Germany against 136 live today.
The “Launch and Last” Metrics
[00:06:03] RG: To truly understand the survivability, we worked upon a very very comprehensive model in our report which we are calling Launch and Last metrics.
Ease of Launch defines whether a market is MVNO-heavy or MVNO-light.
Survival Probability defines the success of an MVNO once it enters the market.
[00:07:04] RG: The big takeaway from this matrix is that the presence of MVNOs is only and only defined by Ease of Launch. Your success in a market will be defined by Survival Probability. Successful markets globally like Japan, Spain, South Korea are very high on survival probability.
Full MVNOs and Future Launches
[00:08:14] RG: We did a mapping of Full MVNOs. A Full MVNO lacks its own spectrum and RAN network, but has its own distribution, billing, sales, customer care, and offers close competition to MNOs.
Europe leads the space of full MVNOs with 56 out of 97 total.
Brazil has 12 full MVNOs.
[00:09:32] RG: There are roughly 283 close to 300 MVNOs planned in the next few years, and most of them are going to come from Europe again followed by APAC. LATAM has experienced good growth and will continue to do so, and Africa is also coming in the picture.
Live Insights from the MVNO Nation Conference
[00:10:40] PY: Last week I attended the MVNO Nation Live 2025 conference. I’m going to focus on four takeaways.
1. Innovation
A clear focus on leveraging new technologies from eSIM to AI and 5G to drive service innovation.
The focus is now more and more on innovation as a competitive differentiator.
2. User Experience
Enhancing a user experience is super important to drive the next phase of growth.
3. Digital Brands
With the arrival of eSIM and artificial intelligence, the focus on digital brands is growing. MVNOs are launching propositions targeting the digital consumer.
Digital brands are seen as a way to generate subscriber/revenue growth and to become more cost efficient.
4. Ecosystem Collaboration
There is an ecosystem of vendors eager to support MVNOs and provide the capabilities needed to move to the next phase of growth.
Important Trends for 2026
[00:14:46] RG: Some of the important trends for 2026:
1. eSIM Adoption
Out of 2,100 plus MBNOS there are roughly 650 MBNOS already offering EIM services.
56 MBNOS directly launch with eSIM only services.
The adoption of eSIM is going to greatly help MBNOS with the distribution network.
2. B2B and IoT Opportunities
The digital transformation of industries unlocks lot of B2B and IoT opportunities for MBNOS as well.
Roughly 7% of the enterprises noted that they are currently working with MBNOS on their digital transformation journey.
3. 5G Monetization
Unlocking the monetization opportunities that 5G offers.
MVNOs have an opportunity to offer experiences to niche segments by wholesaling an entire network slice.
They could be the ones managing private network customers of MNOs.
4. Bundling and New Markets
We also expect MVNOs to enter into the bundling space (convergent offering).
New markets are emerging in Africa (Uganda, Nigeria, South Africa).
The Role of eSIM for the MVNO Market
[00:18:42] PY: We’ve seen two important milestones: Apple launching eSIM only smartphones globally and Chinese operators launching eSIM service for smartphones.
Global penetration of eSIM at the end of 2025 is 5%, but we expect it to double in 2026 from five to 10%.
Opportunities for MVNOs:
Digital Brands: MVNOs are keen to leverage eSIM to launch eSIM only consumer propositions.
Travel SIM: A successful use case with 45% year-on-year growth.
Cost Efficiency: A way to streamline some of the manufacturing and logistics costs.
IoT: Growing interest in leveraging eSIM for IoT with the new GSMA SGP.32 specifications, driving use cases around automotive, logistics, and utilities.
[00:22:07] RG: Leveraging eSIM links to unlocking the opportunities in the B2B space.
Conclusion and Next Steps
[00:22:39] RG: Thank you for sharing your insights, Pablo.
[00:22:45] RG: The detailed report is only available to our GSMA Intelligence subscribers. If you are interested in the report, you can reach out to us at moc.e1778423862cnegi1778423862lletn1778423862imsg@1778423862ofni1778423862 to discuss subscription or a one-time purchase.
[00:25:00] PY: In addition to further work on the MVNO tracker, we will also do a report on consumer behavior of MVNO customers, comparing them with MNO customers based on our consumer survey.
[00:25:26] PY: We had a lot of questions today, and we will be able to answer all your questions by email. We will reach out individually in the next couple of days.
