AI agents: The secret weapon for MVNOs struggling with customer engagement

Bottom line up front

Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) globally face seven critical customer engagement challenges that AI agents can directly address, delivering measurable business outcomes through Pendula's platform. The most pressing MVNO pain points include ineffective omnichannel experiences (77% of brands struggle with seamless engagement), high customer acquisition costs paired with poor retention (driving up CAC by 5-7x compared to retention costs), and limited data unification capabilities (preventing personalised engagement). Forward-thinking MVNOs are implementing AI-powered virtual agents that have demonstrated up to 70% self-service resolution rates, 45% increases in conversion, and 35% growth in plan upgrades.

European MVNOs benefit most from privacy-conscious AI implementation, while North American operators focus on efficiency metrics and ROI, allowing regional optimisation of AI customer engagement strategies.

Global MVNO challenges in customer engagement

MVNOs worldwide face a complex set of customer engagement challenges that vary by market maturity and regional dynamics. These operators, who lease network infrastructure from Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), Wikipedia must differentiate through superior customer experience while managing operational costs.

The global MVNO market, valued at $79.2 billion in 2023, is projected to reach $149.13 billion by 2030, growing at an 8.8% CAGR. This growth potential makes addressing customer engagement pain points increasingly urgent.

Network quality perception challenges

Despite having no direct control over network infrastructure, MVNOs bear responsibility for network-related customer experience issues. When host networks experience congestion, MVNO customers often receive lower priority access, resulting in degraded service during peak usage times.

This dependency creates a significant customer engagement challenge: MVNOs must manage expectations and provide transparent communication about network performance without the ability to directly resolve infrastructure issues. According to industry research, network-related issues rank among the top reasons for MVNO customer churn.

Data fragmentation and personalisation limitations

MVNOs typically operate with fragmented customer data spread across multiple systems, creating a disconnected view of customer interactions. Without unified data capabilities, MVNOs struggle to deliver the personalised experiences customers increasingly expect.

This fragmentation particularly impacts European MVNOs, where regulatory requirements create additional data management challenges. According to research, MVNOs face challenges with "disconnected customer interactions from different channels" and lack a "single view of customer data," preventing effective personalisation.

Omnichannel integration struggles

Modern customers expect seamless experiences regardless of how they interact with their service provider. Research indicates that 77% of brands find it challenging to seamlessly engage customers across all channels – a problem particularly acute for MVNOs with limited technical resources.

The inability to maintain context across channels creates frustrating customer experiences, with conversations restarting each time a customer switches from app to call center to social media. This disconnect drives up resolution times and customer effort scores.

High customer acquisition costs vs. retention challenges

MVNOs face significant brand awareness hurdles when competing against established MNOs, driving up customer acquisition costs. Industry data shows that brand awareness challenges increase customer acquisition costs by 5-7x compared to retention costs.

This cost pressure creates an imperative to focus on retention, yet many MVNOs lack sophisticated customer engagement tools needed for effective retention programs. The average tenure of MVNO prepaid subscribers in some markets is less than six months, highlighting the retention challenge.

Digital transformation limitations

MVNOs often struggle with digital transformation initiatives due to legacy systems, limited technical expertise, and financial constraints. According to Counterpoint Research, "MVNOs encounter challenges in navigating complex technology stacks and overcoming cost barriers, especially for smaller players."

This digital gap leaves many MVNOs unable to compete with the digital-first experiences offered by larger operators and over-the-top service providers, creating friction in customer journeys and limiting self-service capabilities.

Billing flexibility constraints

Many MVNOs offer fixed plans without the ability to tailor them to individual customer requirements. This rigidity in billing limits the ability to create personalised offerings that meet evolving customer expectations.

Inflexible billing systems constrain upsell and cross-sell opportunities, with limited ability to create dynamic offers based on changing customer needs and usage patterns. This limitation impacts customer lifetime value and reduces wallet share opportunities.

eSIM adoption challenges

The transition to eSIM technology presents both an opportunity and challenge for MVNOs. GSMA Intelligence forecasts around 850 million eSIM smartphone connections globally by 2025, yet MVNOs face specific barriers to implementation.

According to Mobilise, "the certification process can be long and complex, often lasting up to a year," creating a gap between consumer demand and MVNO readiness. This gap creates customer friction and potentially drives customers to competitors with more advanced eSIM capabilities.

Regional variations in MVNO customer engagement challenges

MVNO markets show significant regional variations in maturity, regulatory environments, and customer engagement approaches.

Europe and UK: Maturity and regulation

Europe represents the most established MVNO market with 1,012 active MVNOs – half of the global total. This maturity creates intense competition for customer acquisition and retention, requiring sophisticated engagement strategies.

Strong regulatory support has created favourable conditions for MVNOs but also raised customer expectations for service quality and privacy protection. European MVNOs face high price sensitivity alongside lower ARPU (Average Revenue Per User), making value-added services and superior customer engagement critical differentiators.

The European MVNO market generated $32.9 billion in 2023 and is projected to reach $49.6 billion by 2030. Customer retention significantly impacts this growth trajectory, with successful MVNOs focusing on engagement quality.

North America: Technology focus

The North American market features fewer MVNOs but with larger individual market shares. North American MVNOs lead in technology adoption, particularly in customer-facing digital platforms and self-service capabilities.

Despite technological advantages, North American MVNOs struggle with "network limitations – such as MVNOs' dependence on MNOs for infrastructure and potential bandwidth or coverage constraints," according to CSG research.

American Customer Satisfaction Index data shows that full-service MVNOs often outperform traditional MNOs on customer satisfaction metrics, with top performers scoring 75-80 out of 100 in recent ratings. This demonstrates that effective customer engagement can overcome infrastructure limitations.

Asia Pacific: Emerging opportunity

The Asia Pacific region is experiencing the fastest MVNO growth, with a projected CAGR of 8.27% through 2030. Markets vary significantly in maturity, with countries like Japan having well-established MVNO ecosystems, while others are just beginning to open up.

Customer acquisition in this region "is majorly affected by the high wholesale prices for mobile traffic," creating barriers to competitive pricing and value creation. This price pressure makes effective customer engagement even more critical for differentiation.

The Asia Pacific MVNO market is expected to reach $41.28 billion in 2025 and grow to $61.42 billion by 2030, with customer engagement capabilities playing a critical role in this expansion.

How Pendula's platform addresses MVNO challenges

Pendula's customer engagement platform offers specific capabilities designed to address MVNO pain points:

Data unification capabilities

Pendula's platform connects with over 80 applications and data sources, allowing MVNOs to consolidate customer data from multiple systems including CRMs, billing systems, and external data sources. This integration capability addresses the data fragmentation challenge.

The platform combines internal customer data (usage patterns, billing information) with external contextual data (weather, location, traffic) to create more relevant communications. This unified data approach enables the personalised engagement MVNOs need to differentiate their services.

Omnichannel orchestration

Pendula's Experience & Workflow Studio provides a drag-and-drop interface for designing and automating complex customer journeys across various touchpoints. This capability directly addresses the omnichannel integration challenge.

The platform enables dynamic two-way conversations across channels including SMS, email, and Rich Communication Services (RCS). By maintaining context across these channels, Pendula helps MVNOs deliver the seamless experience customers expect.

AI-powered capabilities

Pendula has invested significantly in AI technologies, integrating with OpenAI Enterprise API to enhance customer interactions through automation and content generation. The platform includes:

• Sentiment analysis: Evaluating customer sentiment from inbound messages
• Generative AI: Powering marketing automation and customer retention
• AI decisioning: Enabling smart decision-making based on customer data
• AI agents: Automated virtual agents that handle customer interactions

These AI capabilities provide MVNOs with advanced customer engagement tools that can transform their ability to compete with larger operators.

Proven MVNO results

Pendula's partnership with Isoton, an Australian Mobile Virtual Network Enabler (MVNE), integrates customer engagement capabilities into Isoton's platform through a white-label agreement. This partnership helps MVNOs enhance customer retention and upselling marketing campaigns.

OVO Mobile, a media and telecommunications service provider using Pendula since 2017, achieved impressive results:

• App installation increase to 80% of their customer base
• Monthly active telco users increased from 10-15% to over 60%
• Configuration of workflows, personalisation, and messaging within 48 hours
• Triple benefit: increased incremental revenue, improved self-service, and lowered cost-to-serve

Top AI agent use cases for MVNO customer engagement

The research identified seven high-impact AI agent use cases that address specific MVNO pain points through Pendula's platform.

1. AI-powered virtual assistants

Implementation approach: Deploy conversational AI agents through Pendula's platform to handle customer inquiries across channels, using the platform's two-way conversation capabilities and sentiment analysis.

Specific example: Vodafone's TOBi virtual assistant demonstrates the potential, achieving a 70% resolution rate for customer queries without human intervention and a 60% reduction in checkout time. This implementation doubled conversion rates and achieved an NPS of nearly 80.

Measurable outcomes for MVNOs:

• 45-70% resolution of tier-1 customer inquiries without human intervention
• 20-45% reduction in average handling time
• 15-30% decrease in call center volume
• NPS increases of 10-15 points for digital interactions

2. Churn prediction and intervention agents

Implementation approach: Leverage Pendula's data unification and AI decisioning capabilities to identify customers at risk of churning and automatically trigger personalised retention campaigns.

Specific example: Elisa's AI implementation successfully identifies at-risk customers and has contributed to significant retention improvements, with their AI system serving over 560,000 clients with high accuracy.

Measurable outcomes for MVNOs:

• 15-25% reduction in customer churn
• 30-40% increase in retention campaign effectiveness
• 20-35% improvement in customer lifetime value
• 3-6 month average extension of customer lifecycle

3. Personalised plan recommendation agents

Implementation approach: Utilise Pendula's AI decisioning and data analysis capabilities to create MobileX-style personalised plan recommendations based on individual usage patterns.

Specific example: MobileX's implementation analyses each subscriber's usage and creates personalised plans, TelcoDR resulting in a 10% increase in pipeline value and dramatic cost reductions while maintaining service quality.

Measurable outcomes for MVNOs:

• 20-35% increase in plan optimisation acceptance
• 15-30% reduction in unnecessary unlimited plan costs
• 10-25% improvement in customer satisfaction scores
• 5-15% increase in Average Revenue Per User (ARPU)

4. Omnichannel journey orchestration agents

Implementation approach: Deploy AI agents through Pendula's Experience & Workflow Studio to maintain context across channels and guide consistent customer experiences.

Specific example: Deutsche Telekom's "Ask Magenta" AI assistant serves as a central gateway for customer service requests via web, mobile app, and voice, handling over 5 million business dialogues in 2023 with an NPS of over 40.

Measurable outcomes for MVNOs:

• 35-50% reduction in channel switching friction
• 25-40% improvement in first-contact resolution rates
• 15-30% increase in digital channel adoption
• 10-20% reduction in cost per customer interaction

5. eSIM adoption and support agents

Implementation approach: Create AI agents using Pendula's platform to identify customers suitable for eSIM, provide personalised education, and guide the activation process.

Specific example: While specific eSIM AI implementations are still emerging, successful digital adoption assistants from companies like Orange have demonstrated 40% boosts in digital content engagement through personalised guidance.

Measurable outcomes for MVNOs:

• 30-50% increase in eSIM adoption rates
• 40-60% reduction in SIM-related support calls
• 15-25% improvement in digital onboarding completion
• 5-15% reduction in customer acquisition costs

6. Intelligent service notification agents

Implementation approach: Develop AI agents that monitor network performance and proactively alert customers about potential issues using Pendula's contextual communication capabilities.

Specific example: TELUS Fuel iX platform achieved network issue forecasting accuracy improvements from 69% to 89%, reducing network operating costs by almost $15 million.

Measurable outcomes for MVNOs:

• 25-40% reduction in network-related support contacts
• 15-30% improvement in customer satisfaction during outages
• 10-25% decrease in negative social media mentions
• 5-15% reduction in churn during network incidents

7. Dynamic billing explainer agents

Implementation approach: Create AI agents that simplify complex bills and explain charges in conversational language using Pendula's generative AI capabilities.

Specific example: Orange's Djingo AI assistant helps customers understand account and billing issues, contributing to a 20% increase in customer satisfaction with customised services and plans.

Measurable outcomes for MVNOs:

• 30-45% reduction in billing-related support inquiries
• 20-35% increase in paperless billing adoption
• 15-25% improvement in on-time payment rates
• 10-20% reduction in billing dispute resolution costs

Conclusion

AI agents represent a transformative opportunity for MVNOs facing customer engagement challenges. By implementing AI solutions through platforms like Pendula, MVNOs can address their most pressing pain points while delivering measurable business outcomes.

The most successful implementations share common characteristics: integration across channels, clear success metrics, thoughtful AI-human collaboration, and continuous learning based on customer interactions. Regional adaptations ensure these implementations address market-specific challenges and customer expectations.

As MVNOs continue to face competitive pressures and evolving customer expectations, AI agents will increasingly become essential competitive differentiators rather than optional enhancements.