Absa Launching A Mobile Network

Absa is preparing to jump on the bandwagon and also launch its own mobile network service, joining a growing list of banks offering SIM cards and data to their customers.

When it goes live, Absa will be the last of South Africa’s big four banks to enter this space. The bank has said it knows it is “late to the party,” but did not want to launch something just to follow others. Absa says the focus has been on building a product that actually fits what its customers need. The service will run as an MVNO (a mobile virtual network operator), which means it will use an existing network rather than building its own infrastructure.

Bank backed mobile networks are not new in South Africa. First National Bank launched FNB Connect back in 2015 and has since grown it to around one million users. Standard Bank followed with its own offering, while Nedbank introduced Nedbank Connect more recently. Outside of the big four, Capitec Bank has seen strong growth with Capitec Connect, reaching over a million users in a few years.

‘more than 2.4 million South Africans are already using bank linked mobile services’

Altogether, more than 2.4 million South Africans are already using bank linked mobile services, showing that there is clear interest in this type of offering.

The appeal for a bank is fairly straightforward. MVNOs are cheaper to launch because banks can use existing mobile networks instead of building their own. They can also promote these services directly through their banking apps and link them to rewards or loyalty programmes.

Absa says its version will aim to add value for customers rather than just compete on price. Whether it stands out in a market that is already quite busy remains to be seen. For now, it is another example of banks slowly expanding beyond traditional banking into everyday services like mobile connectivity.