Revolut will announce on Wednesday that it will launch monthly mobile phone plans, hoping to disrupt the established telecoms market in the EU.
The British-based fintech told Euronews that the plans will first be launched in the UK and Germany this year, with more markets to follow.
Customers will have access to unlimited calls, texts and data at home, and they can receive a local phone number without fixed contract commitments.
UK plans will provide a 20GB roaming allowance across the EU and the US, while German plans will include 40GB of EU roaming. Offers for EU customers travelling to the UK have not yet been disclosed.
According to the EU’s “roam like at home” rules introduced in 2017, consumers in the EU can call, message and use mobile data anywhere in the bloc at no extra cost — although there are fair usage limits.
Since the UK left the EU in 2021, this regulation no longer applies to Brits, which means that UK mobile providers can set their own roaming charges.
“In our view, consumers are suffering with traditional network offerings due to a lack of transparency with hidden fees, painful customer experience and old, difficult to navigate user experience,” Hadi Nasrallah, general manager of Telco at Revolut, said in a statement sent to Euronews.
Partnering with established firms
Compared to other nations, the EU already has a relatively large number of mobile network operators (MNOs) — counting more than 30 firms. In contrast, the US and China have less than a handful each.
Proponents of a fragmented market argue that diversity of providers is good for competition, forcing firms to provide a better service.
Critics argue that smaller firms make less profit, meaning less funding goes towards infrastructure upgrades.
Revolut will be acting as a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), rather than an MNO, meaning it will be leasing network capacity from an established player.
Hadi Nasrallah told Euronews that Revolut cannot yet reveal its operating partners, but that “some of them span multiple markets”.
Asked how the firm would ensure service quality when working with leased infrastructure, Nasrallah said this relies on trust between firms.
Competition in Europe
“It’s almost impossible to enter the EU market as an MNO, as access is tightly regulated and new spectrum licences are rarely awarded,” Tomaso Duso, department head at DIW Berlin and chairman of the German monopolies commission, previously told Euronews. His comments did not come in response to Revolut’s announcement.
“In contrast, it’s not too difficult for non-traditional players to enter the market as mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs), as they can lease capacity from existing networks without having to invest in their own infrastructure,” he said.
Duso explained that although MVNOs cannot “replace the value of competition between MNOs”, they have the potential to bring benefits to consumers.
He added that these offerings “do not appear to be a barrier to investment”, suggesting that they are instead associated with higher capital expenditure.
A recent report from the European Commission, to which Duso was a contributor, reads: “When looking at the relationship between investment and concentration, we do not find that higher concentration leads to higher levels of investment; further, …MVNOs seem to play a meaningful role in fostering investment in mobile telecommunications.”
Revolut’s approach
Wednesday’s announcement shows a desire from Revolut to diversify its products, instead of solely focusing on digital banking.
It follows the firm’s launch of an eSIM last year, a digital version of a physical SIM that allows customers to switch between networks. Using these cards when abroad can be cheaper than buying roaming bundles through your standard provider.
“We do things above and beyond money,” Antoine Le Nel, Revolut’s chief growth and marketing officer, told Euronews, when asked whether the mobile service would dilute the company’s brand.
“It [diversification] is nothing new,” he stressed — pointing to Revolut offerings such as mortgages and hotel booking.
Sticking to its “no fuss” ethos, the firm said in a statement that its mobile plans will be integrated into the Revolut app, and that users will be able to pay with points collected through the firm’s loyalty scheme.
Revolut said that customers who join a waitlist will be the first to access the mobile plans, with an introductory rate of £/€12.50 a month.
