Cable companies are entering the mobile market through wholesale mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs), pairing licensed wireless access with expansive Wi‑Fi networks to offer competitive bundles that leverage both networks.
In 2024, households saved an estimated $4.1 billion on mobile services with these cable options, with 2025 projections around $5.0 billion. These savings are a byproduct of vigorous competition, not generosity from incumbents.
Cable’s disruption is part of a longer market-reshaping pattern. In the 1990s DOCSIS-based cable internet redefined access, followed by cable voice services altering the traditional telephony space. The same disruptive dynamic is now unfolding in wireless.
Today, Charter, Comcast, Cox, and Mediacom operate as MVNOs, pairing access to a national wireless network with the cable industry’s robust Wi‑Fi footprint. This model, supported by significant Wi‑Fi offload—nearly 90% of traffic in some cases—helps keep costs down while enabling competitive pricing. Alaska’s GCI also participates by wholesaling on its own network to the major MNOs.
Market momentum is evident in subscriber growth: cable mobile connections have more than doubled from about 10 million in 2022 to over 20 million by early 2025. Charter now serves more than 10 million mobile lines, Comcast more than 8 million, and both networks together added hundreds of thousands of lines in a single quarter, signaling a seismic shift in a market long led by a few national players.
Beyond savings, the cable entrant into mobile is altering sector dynamics and prompting incumbents to lift their game on service quality and pricing. Policymakers are urged to view competition as an American consumer win, supporting innovations that widen choice while ensuring fair access and transparency for MVNO arrangements.
