All research

GSMA Intelligence's Chart of the Month is a visual way of telling an important story in the mobile and broader tech ecosystem. From the shape and size of markets to trends in consumer behaviour, we aim to provide food for thought through informative visuals designed to bring colour and clarity to complex issues facing the industry. This edition highlights the major differences in behaviour between MVNO and MNO customers.

Over the last 10 years, the number of MVNOs around the world has grown by 70%. As the consumer market is a major focus for MVNOs, analysing and comparing the behaviour of MVNO and MNO customers offers insight than can be used to inform business strategies and commercial decisions. This research unveils the biggest differences and their commercial implications.

As the market races to evaluate the opportunity of token-focused AI monetisation, perhaps the most important question is around the challenges and risks. Against the backdrop of an evolving and uncertain new market, this piece covers the potential pitfalls that operators need to be aware of.

This edition of GSMA Intelligence's Chart of the Month looks at major operators' progress with revenues beyond traditional core telecoms. The GSMA Intelligence Chart of the Month is a visual way of telling an important story in the mobile and broader tech ecosystem. From the shape and size of markets to trends in consumer behaviour, we aim to provide food for thought through informative visuals designed to bring colour and clarity to complex issues facing the industry.

Last month, China’s three major telecoms operators became the first to launch token-based AI plans, packaging AI usage in a way that resembles traditional mobile data bundles, signalling a broader push by operators to commercialise AI, cloud and compute capabilities. This reflects growing interest among operators in monetising AI by moving beyond internal AI efficiencies and towards commercial AI opportunities. The logic is simple – tap the surging interest in AI and put a meter on it – but the concept goes beyond just offering tokens for cash.

The 2026 Fifa World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the US is set to capture the attention of football fans around the world, with operators playing a significant role in its success. The event in many ways represents a microcosm of operator strategy: combining infrastructure performance, customer experience and service innovation to meet immediate demand and strengthen long-term competitive positioning.

From a financial perspective, services beyond traditional core telecoms are now a key component of telco revenue growth. This report looks at how far major operators have progressed with revenues beyond traditional core telecoms, the operators leading in terms of revenue diversification and growth beyond connectivity, and the main trends and drivers of growth.

This edition of the Industry Checkpoint series focuses on consumer digital services, highlighting how the market has changed in the last six months and its implications. The report considers three major developments: fresh momentum for consumer XR due to important releases from major tech players; AI agents breaking out in consumer digital services; and major digital gaming providers putting cloud gaming in an unprecedented position to challenge console gaming.

Operator strategies continue to evolve in the digital era as the telecoms industry seeks to capture new growth opportunities in the consumer and enterprise markets. Assessing innovation and achievements is more important than ever before. GSMA Intelligence's operator case studies provide a concise and consistent way to shine a light on and analyse operators' strategies and business models, as well as how they are launching new services. This edition highlights how Deutsche Telekom’s smart home offering is part of its wider strategy to transform into a leading digital telco.

Operator strategies continue to evolve in the digital era as the telecoms industry seeks to capture new growth opportunities in the consumer and enterprise markets. Assessing innovation and achievements is more important than ever before. GSMA Intelligence's operator case studies provide a concise and consistent way to shine a light on and analyse operators' strategies and business models, as well as how they are launching new services. This edition highlights how EE is offering consumers a range of own-brand and third-party mobile digital services.

For industry players, the developments at CES have important implications for the road ahead. For operators, for example, this includes the area of network quality of service and the opening up of potential new revenue opportunities. To help navigate the key announcements, developments and implications from the show, this report focuses on four key areas of innovation: consumer devices, smart home, digital entertainment and automotive.

Leveraging data from the 2025 survey, conducted between June and August, this report provides relevant insights into how the consumer behaviour is changing across eight topic areas: 5G; devices; eSIM; generative AI; pay TV; gaming; the metaverse and extended reality; and sustainability.

This dashboard, based on GSMA Intelligence 2025 consumer survey, provides all the relevant data related to eSIM user behaviour in a consistent and structured way – a valuable asset for companies looking to formulate or adjust their consumer commercial strategies and plans.

This dashboard, based on GSMA Intelligence 2025 consumer survey, provides all the relevant data related to gaming user behaviour in a consistent and structured way – a valuable asset for companies looking to formulate or adjust their consumer commercial strategies and plans.

This dashboard, based on GSMA Intelligence 2025 consumer survey, provides all the relevant data related to 5G user behaviour in a consistent and structured way – a valuable asset for companies looking to formulate or adjust their consumer commercial strategies and plans.

This dashboard, based on GSMA Intelligence 2025 consumer survey, provides all the relevant data related to generative AI user behaviour in a consistent and structured way – a valuable asset for companies looking to formulate or adjust their consumer commercial strategies and plans.

This dashboard, based on GSMA Intelligence 2025 consumer survey, provides all the relevant data related to device user behaviour in a consistent and structured way – a valuable asset for companies looking to formulate or adjust their consumer commercial strategies and plans.

This dashboard, based on GSMA Intelligence 2025 consumer survey, provides all the relevant data related to metaverse user behaviour in a consistent and structured way – a valuable asset for companies looking to formulate or adjust their consumer commercial strategies and plans.

How will the industry evolve in 2026? This series of reports highlights the key trends to watch and the implications for ecosystem players. This report examines the digital consumer area.