Let’s be honest: Absa is late. Very late.
Its three big rivals have been selling airtime and data to customers for years. FNB started back in 2015. Standard Bank followed in 2018. Nedbank quietly snuck in last August. Together with Capitec – which isn’t even one of the traditional big four – they’ve already signed up more than 2.45 million South Africans to bank-backed mobile plans.
Now Absa has confirmed it will finally launch its own mobile virtual network operator, or MVNO. That makes it the last of the so-called Big Four to join the party.
And the bank knows it.
Asked about the delay, Absa more or less said: “We didn’t want to do it just because everyone else did.” It wanted to wait until it had something its customers actually wanted, not just a me-too product.
Fair enough. But waiting has a cost.
The market has moved on
Capitec Connect, launched only in September 2022, now has 1.1 million active subscribers – more than any other bank-backed MVNO. That is remarkable growth in just three and a half years, built on aggressively cheap prepaid data and a simple pitch.
FNB Connect took eight years to hit one million subscribers (it got there in November 2025). It started on Cell C’s network but added MTN in 2023 after customers complained about patchy coverage – a smart, if belated, fix.
Standard Bank Connect has just over 350,000 subscribers. Nedbank won’t say how many it has, only that growth is “solid”.
So the pecking order is clear: Capitec is winning, FNB is holding its own, and the others are fighting for the rest.
Why banks bother with mobile networks
On the face of it, selling mobile plans seems like a distraction for a lender. But the economics are actually quite clever.
First, it costs very little. The bank doesn’t build towers or maintain network gear. It just buys wholesale access from a real mobile operator – in Absa’s case, Cell C is one of two shortlisted candidates, according to Cell C’s chief executive Jorge Mendes.
Second, customer acquisition is almost free. Banks don’t need billboards or TV ads. They just push a notification through their banking app. Millions of customers see it instantly.
Third, the mobile plan doesn’t need to make much money on its own. It’s an add-on, a loyalty tool, a way to keep customers checking their bank app every day. If the bank breaks even on data but keeps a customer from switching to Capitec, that’s a win.
Fourth, technology has made onboarding effortless. eSIMs and remote ID checks mean a customer can be up and running in minutes without visiting a branch or waiting for a physical SIM card to arrive in the post.
What Absa still hasn’t told us
Several key details are missing.
Which network will it ride on? Cell C is the likeliest guess, but Absa hasn’t confirmed. Will it offer dual-network roaming like FNB now does? What about pricing? Will it undercut Capitec, or compete on something else?
And perhaps most important: will this be just another prepaid plan, or will Absa try something genuinely different – like bundling mobile data with business banking tools, or offering cheaper cross-border roaming across its pan-African footprint?
Absa has a real advantage there. It operates in a dozen African countries. No other South African bank-backed MVNO can say that. But that only matters if Absa actually uses it.
Absa is late, but late doesn’t always mean doomed. Sometimes the last mover learns from everyone else’s mistakes.
But the bank has chosen to play catch-up in a market where two million people have already made up their minds. That is a tough place to start.
Now we wait to see whether Absa has a genuine plan – or just a box it wanted to tick.
