Seizing the MVNO and MVNE Growth Opportunity in the APAC Region

Wholesale telecom providers know these two things:

1. Telco revenues, generally speaking, are either stable or in decline
2. Costs are increasing, squeezing telco’s existing margins

Which leads providers to the third thing they know: They need to find new revenue streams. That means building new business models and monetising their existing network assets in new ways, leveraging technology like 5G, eSIM and generative AI.

This makes the mobile virtual network enabler (MVNE) business model an attractive one for many wholesale telecom companies. They can leverage their extensive network infrastructure and provide a platform for innovative service offerings. The MVNE model helps telcos expand their overall market reach and drive new revenue growth.

Where we’re seeing particular growth potential for mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) and the MVNEs that support them, however, is in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region. For the telcos that can quickly capitalise on the opportunity, APAC—with its diverse and fast-growing markets—offers tangible opportunities for MVNO/MVNE growth.

The APAC Hotbed of MVNO Opportunity for Wholesale Telecom

The MVNO market in APAC is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 6.75% between 2024 and 2030, expanding to a market size of nearly $100 billion U.S. Several factors are contributing to this, including:

• Untapped customer segments. Countries like India, Indonesia and the Philippines are seeing a surge in mobile subscribership thanks to their rapid 5G adoption and smartphone penetration. This growth in mobile connectivity presents fertile ground for MVNOs to target underserved and niche markets.
• Regulatory support. Many governments across Asia are providing favourable conditions for MVNOs, such as promoting competition and helping to reduce barriers to entry. For example, Japan has actively promoted MVNOs and provided guidance on licensing, spectrum allocation and interconnect arrangements.
• Technological advancements. APAC is adopting 5G and IoT technologies at an accelerated pace, creating new avenues for MVNOs to offer differentiated services. MVNOs, known for being nimble, are especially well-positioned to foster innovation with these technologies.
• New entrants. We’re seeing more companies in non-telco verticals looking to add telco services as a powerful adjunct to their core businesses. This is particularly true in APAC, with banks, supermarket chains, utilities providers, insurance companies and other businesses interested in offering connectivity to their large customer base.

However, knowing where to implement an MVNE strategy is just one part of the equation. Wholesale telecom providers must also address the question of how.

Capitalising on MVNO Growth: 6 Capabilities Wholesale Telecom Providers Need

To be competitive in the MVNE market, wholesale telecom companies need to develop specific capabilities:

1. Seamless network quality. Delivering a hybrid network that integrates legacy mobile, Wi-Fi and 5G is essential. Managing multiple network types and optimising performance ensures a consistent, high-quality user experience.
2. Instantly scalable services. Adopting cloud-native platforms allows providers to offer scalable services on a pay-as-you-grow model. This simplifies and accelerates MVNO onboarding, reducing the high infrastructure and delivery costs that usually come with scaling operations.
3. Configurable service bundling. MVNOs need the flexibility to create tailored offerings that integrate content, loyalty programs, enterprise services, partner products and much more. This ability to quickly differentiate in the market and target diverse customer needs is critical to success.
4. Vertical-specific solutions. Providing end-to-end solutions for specific verticals—such as IoT and cloud services for healthcare, logistics and manufacturing—helps MVNOs enter new markets faster with specialized services.
5. Strong partnerships. A rich ecosystem of vertical-specific partners and enterprise customers allows for developing specialized solutions that meet the unique needs of different industries.
6. Adaptability to shifting requirements. Even with its favourable regulatory conditions, the APAC market has complex and evolving policies across multiple regions. MVNOs will gravitate to a wholesale telecom provider that can help simplify the patchwork of requirements that could otherwise stall their market entry, especially involving newer technologies.

These capabilities are table stakes for wholesale telecom providers to effectively support their MVNO partners. After that, they need to address how, specifically, they will empower these partners through streamlined MVNO enablement.

Moving Partners up the Value Chain With MVNO Enablement

Helping MVNOs succeed means giving them the tools to create and manage special offers for new markets and industries. They need the ability to design and manage complex product bundle offerings to stay competitive. This hinges on having the right MVNE platform.

MVNO enablement also means having a robust ecosystem that reduces fixed costs, stays updated with the latest technology and speeds up the process of adding new services and MVNOs. Wholesale telecom providers need to give MVNOs the tools to help themselves, like user-friendly portals and APIs that easily connect with other apps and services.

How Three Group Solutions Became an Agile MVNE

What can wholesale telecom companies achieve when they put it all together and meet these challenges head on?

Three Group Solutions, a global operator of data services and mobile telecommunications, adopted CSG’s MVNE platform to manage billing, payments, customer support, partner settlement and reporting for its MVNO customers. Three Group Solutions became more agile in navigating MVNO business demands, launching new products and monetising connectivity at scale.

“We have reduced third-party vendors by 80% and maintained a consistently lean team despite growing by five times in less than two years. With CSG … we can onboard customers in six to eight weeks instead of nine months.”

— Tom Gardner, director of enterprise, wholesale, and IoT products, Three Group Solutions

You can read the details of their accomplishment in the full case study.