Capitec Connect, the bank’s mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), is witnessing strong growth.
This was revealed on Friday by Dr Dalene Steyn, head of Capitec Connect, when the bank hosted its Capitec Tech Day in Cape Town.
According to Steyn, the MVNO is now looking to attract more subscribers by introducing new social and video streaming bundles.
Capitec Connect, which piggybacks on the Cell C network, launched in September 2022, promising data and airtime at discounted rates.
The bank’s offering competes with Standard Bank and First National Bank, which introduced similar services locally several years ago.
Other local MVNO brands include Shoprite Group, Sakeng Mobile, Mr P Mobile and PnP Mobile − Pick n Pay's MVNO.
“Capitec Connect has enabled Capitec to become a better bank. We felt that the big telcos were not providing our clients better products in terms of affordability and accessibility. So, we have come to challenge them,” Steyn said.
Growing user base
Two years after launching Capitec Connect, the MVNO now has about 1.3 million active users, she noted.
“We are constantly designing new products and we will be launching additional products towards the end of this month. We have spent a lot of time with our clients in our branches to understand what exactly they want from a mobile service provider.
“It’s great to have a business where our main goal is not to make income, but to add value to our clients. We have about 23 million clients and we are selling about R2 billion worth of airtime every month. Most of our subscribers are from our client base. The customers visit our 900 branches where they get Capitec Connect.
“When a customer comes into the branch, they identify themselves and we actually know if the client has the propensity to use our mobile prepaid SIM.”
Steyn pointed out the growth in usage is because Capitec Connect designs products that are 100% client-focused.
She added that about 90% of the Capitec Connect transactions are done through the bank’s mobile application, while only a small percent uses USSD.
“Since we launched, all our data bundles don’t expire but some of our clients are saying if our product becomes more affordable, they will be happy if the bundles expire. In July, we introduced one-day, seven-day and 30-day data bundles. While our customers can opt for their data not expiring, they can now also buy more affordable one-day, seven-day and 30-day data bundles.
“We have also launched some streaming and social bundles, which complement the bundles we currently have.”
Also speaking at the event, Wim de Bruyn, chief information officer of Capitec, said in August the MVNO sold 5.1 petabytes of data.
“That’s significant scale. I think what’s valuable as well is that it’s not only the data we sell, but the data we get, which involves the data strategy that Capitec has in understanding our clients better and being able to manage risk better.”
According to Steyn, every month is a record month for Capitec Connect. “Every week we are selling about 8 000 SIM cards in our branches. Our voice traffic is increasing by double digits month-to-month.
“When we launched our MVNO two years ago, we got integration with our MVNO partner and there was very little that we did because we were so much dependent on them. Now we are looking at building more capabilities from our side.”
She added that the bank spent a lot of time trying to understand exactly what its clients need. This involved surveys and speaking to staff as well as customers.
Streaming push
“Some of the products that we have developed include the launch of social bundles. We are also launching new streaming vouchers for all platforms, such as DStv, Showmax and Netflix.
“We are looking to launch some larger data bundles and some smaller one-day voice bundles.”
Francois Viviers, group executive of marketing and communications at Capitec, noted: “One of the value-added services we recently introduced was through a partnership with Showmax, where we give a Showmax subscription at half the price when you buy the bundle using the Capitec app.
“The other innovation that we are currently driving is how to help SMEs, especially small merchants, to move from cash to digital.”
He noted the bank is sourcing point-of-sale devices from China and provides them to the small merchants.