An MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) is a wireless carrier that does not invest or setup its own infrastructure but rather uses those of an existing carrier to provide mobile service to subscribers. A sub-carrier. Think of an MVNO as a reseller of wireless services.
An MVNO white label is an MVNO that does this under its own brand name. A white label MVNO sells cellular or broadband services and often can sell exactly the same rate plans as the MVNO whose services they are reselling. These include voice, text messaging, data, and others.
A CDMA MVNO White label is a sub-carrier that runs on CDMA infrastructure. CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) is a type of 2G and 3G cellular technology used by carriers. In the United States, Verizon is the only one of the Big 3 carriers using CDMA technology to provide cellular service. U.S. Cellular is another carrier using CDMA. CDMA is an older technology now and Verizon has already shut it down since December 2022. U.S. Cellular has announced plans to shut it down eventually, as major carriers focus on 4G and 5G going forward.
The implication of CDMA decommissioning for subscribers
All CDMA MVNO white label services riding on Verizon and U.S. Cellular will eventually go away. Some already have since Verizon’s decommissioning of its CDMA network.
How does this affect you as a subscriber? It has zero effect on subscribers who are using newer smartphones which support 4G and 5G networks. If you use one of those older CDMA 2G and 3G phones, though, your device will stop working whenever your CDMA MVNO carrier’s service migrates to 4G and 5G.
This includes dumb phones, feature phones, and older smartphones that uses CDMA 2G and 3G services. If your cell phone is 4G-compliant, you should be fine and be able to continue using it even after CDMA service has been decommissioned. If your cell phone strictly uses CDMA, you will have to replace it with a newer, compliant, 4G/5G phone.
CDMA MVNO white label operators in America
The list of CDMA MVNO white label services in the United States includes Affinity Cellular, Boom! Mobile, Credo Mobile, Charity Mobile, EnTouch, EcoMobile, Flash Wireless, Global Data Telecom, and others.
The future of CDMA MVNO white label companies
Technology-wise, CDMA MVNO white label services are on their way out, as the carriers whose infrastructure they use shut down. But that doesn’t mean they are going out of business. Because they do not run their own network equipment and towers, they will simply offer whatever new technology services that their parent carriers offer and so stay in business. But CDMA as a technology for delivering wireless service to mobile subscribers in the United States is dead.
The same trend will follow in other countries where CDMA mobile services exist. CDMA mobile network operators and MVNOs will shut down their CDMA networks and switch to the newer and more efficient 4G and 5G technologies. Changes of this sort take time to implement, so in some other countries, the shutdown will not be immediate. Even here in the U.S., the CDMA shutdowns have happened over a period of up to three years.
