Award-winning collaboration delivers transformative results: eSIM activations surge from 2% to 94% in six months and paid subscribers more than double year-over-year
RICHARDSON, Texas and WATERLOO, Ontario, June 08, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mavenir, the software company building mobile networks that are AI-by-design, and TextNow, the leading ad-supported U.S. free wireless service, have been jointly awarded Best MVNO and Industry Collaboration at the MVNOs World Awards in Amsterdam. The award recognizes the pair's collaboration to redefine real-time entitlement control for a freemium, ad-supported, and paid mobile service operating at scale across the United States and Canada.
TextNow serves more than 10 million monthly active users, many moving fluidly between freemium, ad-supported, time-bound, and paid plans within the same day. Sustaining that flexibility at scale, consistent, real-time service enforcement, demanded a fundamentally different approach to MVNO architecture.
Mavenir's integrated BSS, Converged Charging System (CCS), Packet Core, and IMS were deployed as a unified control plane, repositioning CCS as the real-time entitlement authority driving network behavior rather than a back-office billing platform. Entitlement changes including ad engagement, SIM activation, plan upgrades and quota exhaustion are now enforced instantly in the network, without manual reconciliation or delayed synchronization. The business impact has been transformative: eSIM activations grew from 2% to 94% of all new activations within six months of deployment, while paid wireless subscribers more than doubled year over year.
Derek Ting, CEO of TextNow: "We exist to prove reliable wireless service doesn't have to be expensive. Mavenir's integrated platform gave us real-time control over every aspect of the customer experience, from instant eSIM activation to seamless transitions between free and paid plans, while fundamentally improving our unit economics at scale. This award validates the architecture, but what matters most is what it unlocks: the ability to keep pushing the boundaries of what a free wireless service can deliver to millions of customers."
The deployment, built on a 5G-first, active-active geo-redundant design, delivers 99.999% availability for carrier-grade operations. A no-code and low-code configuration model has accelerated time-to-market by decoupling offer creation from engineering cycles, while direct SIM ownership enabled eSIM adoption and materially improved the customer activation journey by allowing new subscribers to activate service instantly, entirely within the app.
Pardeep Kohli, Chief Executive Officer, Mavenir: "This award is a testament to what becomes possible when BSS and Core are truly integrated. TextNow pushed the boundaries of what an MVNO can be, and Mavenir's architecture rose to meet that ambition. Together, we proved that cloud-native, open network software is not just viable for complex digital MVNOs - it is the enabler."
The MVNOs World Awards, organized by Informa in Amsterdam, recognizes excellence across the virtual network operator industry. The Best MVNO and Industry Collaboration category honors partnerships that demonstrate measurable impact through joint innovation.
About Mavenir
Mavenir is enabling intelligent, automated, programmable networks through the development of telco-first, cloud-native, AI-by-design software solutions for mobile operators. The company's deep telco domain expertise has been proven through deployments with 300+ operators globally in over 120 countries, which together serve more than 50% of the world's subscribers. Mavenir combines its deep telco experience with the cloud and IT expertise and data science skillsets essential to solving real customer challenges. Its proven software solutions are AI by design, delivering the AI-native future and operators' evolution to TechCos. For more information, please visit www.mavenir.com.
About TextNow
Founded in Waterloo, Ontario in 2009, TextNow is the largest ad-supported free wireless service in the United States, built on the belief that phone service should be more flexible, accessible and affordable for everyone. TextNow delivers wireless service through an app, giving customers unlimited talk and text, free data for 25+ apps and access to the same 5G network as the major carriers. Those who need more can add wireless data on their own terms by the day, week, or month, and remove ads with the Unlimited Plan. For more information, visit textnow.com or find us free in the App Store and Google Play.
Press Contacts
Mavenir
Emmanuela Spiteri | [email protected]
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