Bait Mobile Continues Extraordinary Growth

The recent rise of mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) in mature markets like the UK is a topic FDM CCS Insight tracks closely and one I’ve talked about many times with clients.

In Mexico, the growth of Bait Mobile has taken things to a completely different level. The MVNO, which launched in 2020 and is part of Walmex, the Mexico and Central American division of grocery giant Walmart, saw total active users surge by 44% in 2025 to 26.4 million. Net customer additions during the year came to 8.1 million, including 3 million in just the fourth quarter, helping it extend its lead as the world’s largest MVNO.

The numbers are incredible for a virtual provider. According to our calculations, Bait now has a share of about 18% of the Mexican mobile market, ahead of rivals AT&T and Movistar. America Movil’s Telcel is way out in front at more than 50%.

Here are a few stats to put Bait’s progress into context. The company added 15 new customers every minute during 2025; its subscriber total mirrors that of the UK’s largest mobile operator, VodafoneThree; and its net additions in 2025 are higher than the total number of mobile customers in Ireland. It’s clearly one of the industry’s leading growth stories.

Bait uses the shared Red Compartida wholesale 4G network that formed part of a government plan to improve network coverage in Mexico and foster competition in response to Telcel’s dominance. A leading pillar is to bring connectivity to some of the country’s remotest areas by using low-band 700 MHz spectrum.

Bait’s success reflects its broad strategy to undercut rivals by offering more data for a similar price. A report from Opensignal shows that its price per gigabyte is less than half that of some other players.

But Bait should also be commended for its deep integration into the broader Walmex ecosystem. As well as enabling customers to buy SIM cards, activate services and recharge their devices at any of the firm’s more than 3,000 outlets in Mexico, it offers free mobile data linked to in-store purchases. In December 2025, more than 2.2 million customers took advantage of this offer.

Bait reported total revenue of 11.5 billion Mexican pesos (€0.6 billion) in 2025. This was up 60% year-on-year but is only equivalent to an average revenue per user of approximately 40 pesos (€2) per month, far below the market average, which is closer to 140 pesos (€7).

This modest spending is compensated for by greater sales in shops as Walmex aims to boost customer engagement, loyalty and trust. A statistic shared on its recent earnings call stood out: Bait customers spend an average of 2.5 times more money in Walmex stores than non-customers. So, the lure of free mobile data isn’t just enticing people into the grocery chain but encouraging them to spend significantly more while they’re there, too.

As well as growing organically, Bait has been linked to a deal to acquire Movistar Mexico. Telefonica could be a willing seller: it has been steadily exiting from Central and South American markets as part of a strategy to focus on its European markets and Brazil. Such a move would almost double its current market presence but also bring considerable hurdles involving network integration, branding and positioning.

Bait may find other challenges take precedence. These largely relate to its reliance on Red Compartida. For example, its network partner doesn’t yet offer 5G, but Mexico’s other networks launched the capability several years ago. Red Compartida has also recently raised its wholesale pricing, placing margin pressure on the country’s MVNOs. Perhaps most significantly, there have been long-standing rumours of it offering a direct retail service of its own. This could harm Bait’s positioning through more-attractive pricing and better quality of service.

For now, Bait continues to reshape Mexico’s mobile landscape, and we’ll keep an eye out for a response from the runaway leader, Telcel. I’ll also be watching to see whether it moves beyond low-priced pay-as-you-go plans to attract higher-spending contract customers. This could be hard without 5G, but with many cost-conscious customers already on board, the next stage of its growth could come in the more-lucrative post-paid segment.