The Convergence Thesis
In October 2024, Nubank, Latin America's largest digital bank with over 100 million customers, did something that would have seemed absurd a decade ago: it launched a mobile phone service. NuCel, running on Claro Brazil's network, enrolled 44,400 users within its first weeks. Not because Brazil needed another mobile operator. But because Nubank understood something most banks still do not: connectivity is the ultimate engagement layer.
The logic is disarmingly simple. A bank that also provides your phone service sees every interaction. It knows when you browse, when you buy, when you travel. It can offer savings products at the moment of purchase, insurance at the moment of travel, and credit at the moment of need.
A bank that provides your phone service sees every interaction. Connectivity is the ultimate engagement layer.
Africa's Head Start
What makes this thesis even more compelling for Africa: the continent's mobile money infrastructure is already more mature than Brazil's was when Nubank entered telecoms. Kenya's mobile money market has hit 91% penetration. M-Pesa generates 44% of Safaricom's total service revenue. In South Africa, FNB Connect, Capitec Mobile, and Nedbank Connect have already proved that bank-led MVNOs can build sustainable subscriber bases.
But most African bank MVNOs are still treating connectivity as a loyalty perk rather than a strategic asset. What NuCel demonstrated is something fundamentally different: embedding connectivity into the banking experience so deeply that leaving one means leaving both.
NuCel users in first weeks
Kenya mobile money penetration
M-Pesa share of Safaricom revenue
The Churn Equation
The business case comes down to churn. Banking customers who also use your mobile service are exponentially harder to lose. Every data bundle purchased, every call made, every app interaction creates a switching cost that traditional banking products cannot match. When your bank is also your phone company, changing either one means changing both. That friction is not a bug. It is the entire strategy.
South Africa's Cell C reported that its MVNO client base grew 28% between May 2024 and May 2025, with data traffic surging 127% year-on-year. FNB Connect has integrated connectivity so tightly with eBucks rewards that the mobile service reinforces banking behaviour and banking behaviour reinforces mobile usage. It is a flywheel.
The Strategic Question
If you are a bank or fintech with more than 5 million customers, the question is no longer whether you should offer mobile connectivity. It is whether you can afford not to, while your competitors build the engagement moats that make their customers impossible to poach.
What It Takes
The barrier to entry is lower than most banking executives assume. An MVNE partner handles the technical complexity: network integration, SIM provisioning, billing, and regulatory compliance. The bank focuses on what it already does well: customer acquisition, product bundling, and data-driven personalisation. The investment is a fraction of a branch rollout, and the return in engagement and retention compounds quarterly.
Nubank proved the model. Africa's banks have the customers, the data, and the mobile money infrastructure to take it further. The first movers will not just add a revenue line. They will redefine what it means to be a bank in Africa.