Cable Mobile Wireless MVNOs: 6.5 Million Subscribers and Counting

Over the last few years, Free State Foundation scholars have taken note of the potential competition in the mobile wireless market from entrant cable providers, including Comcast's Xfinity Mobile and Charter Communications' Spectrum Mobile. These cable mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) combine their broadband network capacity and mobile hotspots with leased spectrum. For a helpful summary of the latest reported numbers, see the July 30 article by Diana Goovaerts in FierceWireless titled "Cable MVNOs add 550,000 wireless subs in Q2." According to the article, cable providers now have a combined total of 6.5 million mobile wireless subscribers. At the end of the first quarter of 2020, there were about 2.5 million combined subscribers. And at the end of the second quarter of 2019, there were about 2.1 million. These cable wireless MVNOs now offer 5G services. At some point, cable wireless MVNOs may be offloading mobile traffic onto their own licensed spectrum in select areas, thereby saving spectrum leasing costs. Expect to hear more about competitive cable MVNOs in the time ahead.