Comment by kotaKat

The bar to getting access to MVNO sales is actually extremely, extremely low.

They're ordering and activating maybe 20-50 at a time, and ordering that number of SIM activation kits from dealer supply houses is extremely normal. Activation typically also is at little to no cost as well to dealers in this market.

FWIW: at sixteen, I somehow managed to get dealer access to a CDMA MVNO. I was able to activate accounts on the fly with $2 of "free" credit to start the user off, with zero cost to me. I still get emails to this day over a decade and a half later from various cellular resellers offering me bulk cellphones...