Telkom steps into SA's booming MVNO market

Lunga Siyo, Telkom CEO, consumer and small business | image supplied

Signing the MVNE platform agreement will enable Telkom to meet Icasa's requirements, which require mobile network operators to support at least three Black-owned MVNOs as part of their spectrum licence conditions.

South Africa’s MVNO market is expanding rapidly, with banks, insurance firms, and major retailers driving competition in the sector. The Africa Analysis MVNO Report (February 2024) estimates the market’s potential revenue at R83,6m, highlighting strong growth prospects.

"Since the sector’s inception in 2006, it has experienced steady growth, with subscriber numbers increasing by 51% year-on-year by the end of 2023, reaching 4.3 million users.

"This growth is driven by consumer affinity, particularly to financial services providers, retailers, and niche brands. These businesses seek to create unique branded mobile products and services, develop new value propositions and value-added services to enhance customer engagement for their own customers."

“The MVNO market is an exciting space, and we are eager to bring our network capabilities and infrastructure to enable and support new entrants,” said Lunga Siyo, Telkom CEO, Consumer and Small Business.

Call for potential MVNO partners

Telkom is inviting brands interested in launching MVNOs to explore partnership opportunities. They will have access to a platform that supports end-to-end customer engagement and management, product design and development, and network integration and technology enablement.

Potential partners can expect:

• Flexible onboarding: Enablement and support tailored based on customer technology integration preferences and requirements, unique product design and development, enhanced customer experience and support based on their unique customer journeys.
• Strong network capabilities: Access to Telkom’s high-quality network and roaming partners.

Keen to explore partnership opportunities? Contact Telkom: az.oc.moklet@onvm.