Absa, South Africa’s third-largest bank, said it wants to become a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO). An MVNO rents network capacity from the mobile network operators (MNOs), like MTN or Vodacom, and repackages it under its own brand.
Why does a bank want to play dress-up as a telecoms network provider?
Two reasons: first, every bank now wants to own the customer’s daily life. If people live on their phones, banks want to live there too. Second, the mobile business has become a data goldmine. The more Absa knows how customers spend, talk, and move, the sharper its financial products and cross-sell strategies become. Owning the SIM card means owning a richer data loop.
Late-to-market is not a weakness: Absa is late to the MVNO wave—Capitec, FNB, Standard Bank, and Nedbank all got there first—but that might not be a weakness, according to Absa CEO Nick Nkosi. The early crowd proved that South Africans are open to banking-branded mobile services. Absa now walks into a market that understands the model and is already hungry for cheaper data and simpler bundles. If it gets the offer right—family plans, easy control through the app, and solid coverage—it could turn that delay into precision.
Between the lines: The catch is that MVNOs are low-margin and depend on tight execution. Running a mobile network, even virtually, takes serious coordination with an MNO partner. If Absa’s service is patchy or dull, customers will shrug and stick to Capitec Connect.
But if it works, the payoff is big. Mobile connectivity can anchor users inside the Absa ecosystem, where payments, loans, and savings become one tap away. The phone becomes the bank. That is the real play here: not airtime, but attention.
