South Africa does not need another mobile operator.
There are plenty, and most are still fighting the same battles on the same battlefield over price, bundles and coverage.
So when a fintech starts talking about starting a mobile service, it’s easy to see why people would question their strategy and even their sanity. Let me take you on our journey.
For years, we have treated average revenue per user (ARPU) as the holy grail. Average revenue per user is neat and comparable, and it looks great on a slick infographic in reports.
But ARPU only measures extraction, not relationship. It tells you what a customer paid you this month, but it does not tell you why they came back, why they trust you or how quickly they may leave when a better offer lands in their inbox.
What I see now, across fintech, is a shift from “How do we acquire?” to “How do we stay relevant?” And the solution isn’t simply in marketing, it must be rooted in deeper product and behavioural design.
Weaver Fintech and it’s Buy Now Pay Later product PayJustNow, know that when customer acquisition slows, margins tighten and loyalty becomes harder to earn.
That means that the next phase will be won by the businesses that earn repeated, meaningful engagement. Building and growing an ecosystem of products and services that are designed for frequency, habit and trust will endure; because those are the things that compound.
And this is exactly where mobile becomes interesting, not as a telecom business, but as an engagement layer.
The innovation is using connectivity as a behavioural reward tied to actions that improve outcomes for both customers and for the ecosystem. Instead of building yet another points programme that customers have to monitor and decipher, you reward a behaviour with something useful.
Traditional rewards programmes often create friction because they rely on complex tiers, points and delayed payback. Airtime works differently; it is practical and instantly understood. And when designed properly, the reward arrives immediately because a behaviour happened, reinforcing the desired outcome.
In South Africa, that practicality is not trivial. For many households, airtime is an ongoing, non-discretionary expense. In pre-launch research we conducted across 13,437 respondents, 35% of people said they buy airtime every week, showing a deeply rooted behavioural rhythm.
Matching the reward currency to an existing habit means that there is no need to invent a new model of behaviour. It is a simply a change of where and how that purchase is funded.
In the same research, “staying connected to family” emerged as the number one open-response theme when it comes to buying airtime and data. That is a useful reminder that connectivity is not only transactional, it is emotional and social. So when you reduce the cost of staying connected, you are not just offering a perk, you’re enabling an important human need in real time.
Almost half of respondents in our research had already activated an additional eSIM, proving that activation fear isn’t an issue and we can focus less on education and logistics and more on the experience. In fintech, we already know that lower friction often translates into higher completion rates and better engagement.
South Africa already has 23 mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs).
Most operate on a simple premise: cheaper data, added to an existing loyalty account. We are launching PJN Mobile to be structurally different, we are building an engagement layer and our MVNO is designed to be low capex, partnering with Cell C and Frei, rather than building network infrastructure from scratch.
Positive interactions across our ecosystem earn airtime as a reward and the data loop closes in real time; purchase behaviour, repayment behaviour and connectivity behaviour all enriching the same picture.
That has never been done from a BNPL anchor in this market. The question is not whether the 24th MVNO can find customers; it is whether it can earn a daily relationship. That is what we are building.
Weaver Fintech’s success has been hard won through intentional customer acquisition and ongoing investment in innovation. To continue the trajectory, we have to continue to innovate, specifically through engagement.
Prosperity will be achieved by being genuinely useful, trustworthy and part of the routines of every day life.
Airtime and data are just tools, the innovation is engagement that compounds.
Andre Hugo, Managing Executive at Weaver Ventures part of Weaver Fintech Ltd (JSE:WVR) .
**The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Media Group.