MVNO Success in the 5G Consumer Space

MVNOs thrive on niches. While 5G for B2B has captured the headlines, there’s a world of possibilities for consumer applications. Explore new opportunities for B2C MVNOs.

We all know that MVNOs are a smart idea, bringing brands, new forms of engagement opportunities, as well as providing services to under-served niches. Consumers have long been open to customised, low-cost/low-frill services offered by MVNOs, and the model continues to gain ground:  the global MVNO market is projected to grow from $64 billion in 2019 to $89 billion by 2024, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 6.8%.

They boost competition, even in saturated markets. UK data from 2020, for example, shows that between December 2018 and December 2019, 7% of the adult phone-owning population changed their network operator: MVNOs picked up 17% of those who did so. In Singapore, local incumbents M1, Singtel and StarHub have all been losing smartphone users to TPG and other MVNOs in the last two years.

So far, so familiar. Well, if the world already loves MVNOs, it’s soon going to love 5G even more. So, what will 5G mean for MVNOs? Well, for sure, there are already MVNOs offering Fifth Generation mass market connectivity: the US has Metro – and, Hollywood actor Ryan Reynolds has embraced the MVNO model so much, he bought into Mint Mobile – bringing consumers innovative pricing for 5G (clue: no premium for the enhanced connectivity it offers). No wonder Research and Markets have already predicted that the 5G MVNO market will reach $8.2 billion by 2026.

But what this macro perspective misses are the potentially vast proliferation of mini-markets and profitable niches that 5G will bring by opening new use cases that just weren’t possible with general purpose comms on 4G. And while, we want to draw your attention to the many B2B possibilities and sectors this brings in, especially in industrial applications, it’s just as important to remember that there will also be huge scope for MVNO success in the 5G consumer space, too.

What are the new 5G B2C MVNO opportunities?

Are we contradicting ourselves when we say there will be both a mass-market 5G MVNO universe and a parallel one of highly targeted, niche-focused offers? Only if you don’t see hyper-specific, hyper-local, probably time-limited, demographic focused networks as the same thing as being able to text Uncle Charlie the game results on a Verizon signal or a service renting Verizon’s tech (to save yourself time: they aren’t). Take just one example among many: healthcare.

Ageing populations are a factor for both governments, policymakers and families in pretty much every geography apart from Africa. The UN tells us there were 703 million people aged 65 years or over two years ago; by 2050, one in six people in the world will be in what many of us would see as our silver age. As part of their adjustment to this changing patient base, healthcare frameworks are exploring not just telehealth for non-physician present consultations, but new enhanced video experiences to help older citizens (which will be all of us, one day) keep up with what might be quite complex at-home medicine and self-treatment regimes.

Hence the idea of video-enabled medication adherence (and go here to find out about an early pilot of such a system in the UK called Paman): imagine being the MVNO that cornered the market in such an important category of 5G-powered B2C services. Which is why we’ve just put together a successor report to Exploring opportunities for the 5G MVNO: An Enghouse Networks’ Guide, MVNO Innovations – what are the new opportunities for retail and consumer markets?

Here, we’ve researched the main drivers, themes, data points and opportunities for any MVNO–and, just as importantly, brands or organisations that haven’t yet dipped their toes in the mobile market–interested in opening the rich world of consumer 5G. Doesn’t matter if you’re in automotive, media, consumer electronics or sport, there will be exciting 5G applications soon… and if you move fast enough, a unique MVNO proposition from your company to service the market.

Chairman Mao didn’t quite mean it when he said his political system should let a thousand flowers bloom. But in the new world of 5G Consumer MVNO, at least as many profitable plants are sprouting: will one of them be yours?