There is no single recipe for MVNO success, but quad-play is one example of a way in which operators can expand beyond their current model, according to Telus’ Bernard Szederkenyi.

• Quad-play – offering broadband and TV services as well as mobile connectivity – is a possibility for innovative MVNOs
• Diversification is not a quick fix – it involves trial and error
• Multi-play offerings take time to bed in, but may improve ARPU and lower churn in the long-run

Quad-play – the provision of fixed and mobile broadband, telephony and TV services by a single provider – is primarily associated with converged operators with their own fixed and mobile infrastructure, rather than with the world of MVNOs. But that needn’t be the case, according to Bernard Szederkenyi, Head of Digital Product Strategy at Canada’s Telus.

Delivering a presentation on Quad-Play for MVNOs: Providing Excellent Customer Experience through Expanding Beyond Mobile into Broadband, TV, and Digital Services, Szederkenyi kicked off with an audience warmup demo of an agentic AI customer care rep that was able to provide a roaming package based on natural-language voice interaction.

Following the demo (“a quick example of what the future is going to look like”) and ahead of describing in detail how Telus’ MVNO Koodo had escaped the commoditisation trap, he cautioned MVNO Nation Live attendees that “what worked for us may not work for you”. There is no single template to enable MVNOs to move beyond price competition and differentiate on value.

Falling margins

Koodo has a significant post-paid subscriber base. Szederkenyi said that the MVNO had initially focused on price with commercial innovation in the form of being the first in the market to offer no-fixed-contract post-paid services as well as device financing. However, irrational price competition in the market resulted in attrition of Koodo’s own margins.

This led initially to innovative cost-cutting measures such the crowdsourcing of customer care and the early introduction of AI-powered virtual assistants (as detailed by Szederkenyi in earlier sessions). However, the ongoing price war continued to pull down Koodo’s margins.

“The breakthrough was when we realised we shouldn’t be a mobile-only brand. We looked into what other household services we could launch to capture a greater share of wallet,” he said.

The first additional service to be considered was fixed broadband. As investing in fibre to connect a highly dispersed base was out of the question, the operator looked at fixed wireless access, but this also proved to be impractically costly because Koodo had a network sharing agreement with other providers.

The solution was to lease lines from competitor networks. This approach proved challenging initially because the network providers attempted to poach customers using their installation technicians, according to Szederkenyi. Koodo subsequently called for regulatory intervention to obtain the necessary guardrails to protect its interests and a dual-play offering of mobile-plus-interest helped it slash its churn rate.

The next piece of the multi-play puzzle that Koodo added was an entertainment offering. Rather than add linear TV channels, the MVNO signed up Netflix as a core entertainment partner and was able to bring in other streamers on the back of that partnership.

Koodo ultimately created an entertainment bundle, Stream+, comprising Netflix, Amazon Prime Video (along with the rest of the Prime offering) and Disney+. The combination of this bundle with mobile telephony and home internet was branded as Happy Stack.

Highest-selling

Szederkenyi was at pains to emphasise that Happy Stack was not an overnight success. “There’s very little desire in most customers’ minds to flip three services at once – it took us quite a bit of time,” he said.

While new customers were willing to sign up to mobile initially, it took work to gain their trust and persuade them to add internet and streaming services to the offering. “We did sell a bundle to households, but it was not an instant and single transaction,” said Szederkenyi.

Nevertheless, Koodo ultimately saw 21% growth in incremental activations following the launch. Stream+ meanwhile became Koodo’s highest-selling add-on offering, and churn among customers with the entertainment package declined by 47%.

“It’s a brilliant way to create stickiness and keep customers with you for the long term,” he said.

Given the brand’s reliance on referrals to build its base, Koodo was keen to assess the impact of Happy Stack on its own internal measurement metric ‘likelihood to recommend’. Szederkenyi said that the company was able to regain its lead in referrals once it introduced multi-play bundling. “With Happy Stack and bundling, we saw a 250-base points increase in referrals,” he said. “It’s tough being in the MVNO business but there are opportunities – especially if you dedicate yourself to thinking differently – about how you can differentiate not just on pricing but on every aspect of your business,” he said.

This is one chapter from Beyond Connectivity: The Future of MVNOs, our eBook covering insights from MVNO Nation Live 2025.

Want the full picture? Download the complete eBook here

Want to be part of the conversation? Join us at MVNO Nation Europe 2026, 3-5 November in Alicante, Spain, where many of the voices featured in this eBook return to explore these themes in person.