The mobile virtual network operator will be an important factor in the growth of 4G connections, according to ABI Research. It’s predicted there’ll be 103 million 4G subscribers connected via MVNOs by 2016, up from just 3.8 million worldwide last year. Around a third of these 103 million subscribers will be from China and Japan.
As with GSM and 3G MVNOs, each 4G MVNO will buy its access through a wholesale deal with a mobile operator.
Philip Solis, research director for mobile networks at ABI Research, said “The 4G wholesale market will be one of the main catalysts in the mobile wireless market in the future. These forecasts are conservative, we believe, with mobile consumer electronics vendors’ adoption of this model being one factor that could greatly impact the potential of this market.”