{"id":613865,"date":"2025-10-12T15:42:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-12T13:42:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=613865"},"modified":"2025-10-12T15:45:38","modified_gmt":"2025-10-12T13:45:38","slug":"absa-launching-mobile-operator-to-take-on-capitec-connect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/cellular\/613865-absa-launching-mobile-operator-to-take-on-capitec-connect.html","title":{"rendered":"Absa launching mobile operator to take on Capitec Connect"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Absa has shortlisted two companies to provide wholesale services for its own mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), Cell C CEO Jorge Mendes has revealed in an interview<\/a> with the Business Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cell C is one of the shortlisted companies; the other\u2019s name was not revealed. Absa\u2019s MVNO will compete against the likes of Capitec Connect and FNB Connect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to vying to be Absa\u2019s mobile virtual network enabler, Cell C has revised its deal with Pepkor and has bought over Shoprite K\u2019nect\u2019s customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the Digital Council Africa\u2019s recent Conext conference in Bryanston, Mendes told attendees that they had signed an agreement with Pepkor to add Cell C to FoneYam, its cellphone rental business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Foneyam operates through three Pepkor retailers: Pep, Ackermans, and Dunns. It offers 13-month smartphone rentals with bundled insurance covering theft, loss, death, and disability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It guards against people who might abscond with their rental device by having security features that allow it to remotely lock a smartphone if a customer misses their monthly payment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking to Business Times, Mendes said K\u2019nect\u2019s subscriber base was very small, about 150,000, and that the acquisition was \u201ca unique MVNO deal structure\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mendes also told Conext attendees about the Shoprite K\u2019Nect acquisition. He said they were currently testing the offering with staff, and the rollout started two months ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the staff rollout, they will launch in all Shoprite\u2019s roughly 3,000 outlets. Mendes said they hoped some of Shoprite\u2019s 8.7-million money market customers would sign up to K\u2019nect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mendes said about 10% of Cell C\u2019s revenue was derived from its wholesale business. He said the company was focusing on its MVNOs, as they are one of its key revenue streams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa\u2019s MVNO market has grown significantly in the past year, which has helped bolster Cell C\u2019s revenues and subscriber numbers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Capitec Connect rescues Cell C<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Data from a recent presentation about Cell C showed that its subscriber growth is coming almost entirely from its MVNO partners, specifically Capitec Connect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company prepared a presentation as a follow-up to majority owner Blue Label\u2019s recent annual financial results, which disclosed further details about a possible listing of Cell C.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although Cell C is starting to show some signs of a financial turnaround<\/a>, including reporting its first-ever profits, its subscriber numbers have been stagnant or declining for years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A chart published as part of its presentation shows that Cell C went from having 10.7 million of its own subscribers in 2022 to 7.6 million in May 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is even more concerning when considering earlier figures. Ten years ago, Cell C reported having around 20 million subscribers. However, it has undergone significant declines since December 2015.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Cell C\u2019s subscriber decline stabilised around 6.5 million in August 2023, it hasn\u2019t shown much growth in its prepaid subscriber base since then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its postpaid subscriber base has continued declining, from around 1 million customers in 2022 to 800,000 by the end of May 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It should be noted that Cell C\u2019s figures for its prepaid and postpaid base include enterprise and fibre-to-the-home customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When including its MVNO customers, Cell C\u2019s subscriber base has been growing since August 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the most significant contributors to this growth has been Capitec Connect, which launched in September 2022 and reported having 1.1 million active SIMs by 31 August 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the phenomenal growth of MVNO partners like Capitec Connect is good news for Cell C, it is a double-edged sword.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cell C faces increasing competition from much larger players like MTN and Vodacom in the MVNO space, with Telkom also entering the ring soon<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part of the reason for MTN and Vodacom encroaching on Cell C\u2019s turf is that their new radio frequency spectrum licences from sector regulator Icasa require them to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This has resulted in Cell C losing MVNO partners like Standard Bank<\/a> and losing exclusivity with First National Bank<\/a>. FNB Connect had been one of Cell C\u2019s most successful partnerships.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Absa is in talks to launch its own mobile virtual network operator in South Africa, with Cell C one of the shortlisted wholesale providers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":613868,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[2186,81699,355,5922,20557],"class_list":["post-613865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cellular","tag-absa","tag-capitec-connect","tag-cell-c","tag-fnb-connect","tag-mobile-virtual-network-operator-mvno"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613865"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=613865"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613865\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":613876,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613865\/revisions\/613876"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/613868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=613865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=613865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=613865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}