By Ryan O’Hanlon, VP of Global Sales & Marketing at MDS Global – Principal Sponsor of MVNO Nation Europe 2026

A lower price is the hook, and a similar plan is always one search away. Here is how MVNOs can become a service customers actually need.

For most MVNOs, a lower price is the hook. But competition is fierce, and a customer can always find a similar data plan for less. If price is all you offer, they have no reason to stay.

So the real question is this: how does an MVNO go from commodity price jockey to a service that people and businesses rely on?

Growth starts with value, not with your model

An MVNO might start as a reseller and take more control of customer relationships over time, eventually becoming a thin MVNO. Another might broaden its capabilities and build a wider partner network. Both are valid business choices. Neither is a mandatory step on the road to growth.

Growth starts with adding value to what customers need from you. A business customer may need its team connected at all times. A brand may want an experience tailored to its community. Both need something more than a lower price.

Convergence and network APIs open new doors

Convergence is one of the strongest ways to deliver that value. By combining mobile and fixed access, an MVNO can build a proposition around the customer rather than around a single service.

Network APIs go further. Where available, identity verification, location information and quality on demand can all enrich a service. eSIM and IoT bring in more customers and more devices.

But the technology is only the means. What matters is delivering something the customer finds genuinely useful.

From value chain to value network

As offers become more tailored, the relationships behind them become more complex. A single service may involve a host network, an application provider, a brand and the MVNO itself. Each contributes something, and each needs to know what was delivered and how it will be paid.

This is where the traditional value chain falls short and a value network takes over: a group of partners working together to deliver one offer.

Consider a customer who buys connectivity with a short-term boost in network quality. Behind the scenes, the systems must handle the existing subscription, the temporary add-on, the usage and each partner’s share of the revenue.

For the customer, it still has to be simple. They should know what they bought, what it costs and when the temporary service is active. If the parts cannot be coordinated, a good commercial idea becomes hard to launch and harder to manage.

That is why revenue management now does far more than produce a bill. It connects charging, partner relationships and settlement, so an MVNO can launch new offers without passing the complexity on to customers. Standardised APIs make it easier for partners to plug in. Flexible systems handle the many ways services are priced and shared.

MVNOs that master this stop competing on price alone. They become the place where valuable services come together.

Continue the conversation in Alicante

MDS Global will be exploring how MVNOs grow beyond connectivity, choose the right partners and build offers customers want to stay for at MVNO Nation Europe 2026, 3–5 November, Meliá Villaitana, Alicante:

See MDS Global at MVNO Nation Europe this November. Register now