Financial services group Capitec in partnership with Cell C, has launched Capitec Connect- a prepaid solution for voice, data and SMS. It joins rivals Standard Bank and FNB, which have mobile offerings of their own in the country in various formats.
Launched in partnership with Cell C, Capitec Connect has promised to disrupt the South African prepaid market.
Capitec Connect is a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) service on the Cell C network.
An MVNO provides cellular services to its clients without owning the network infrastructure. SIM cards are available to clients at all Capitec branches, and clients can get up to five Sim cards linked to their profile, making it easier to give family members access to data and airtime.
Once the SIM is activated, data, minutes, SMSes, and airtime can be topped up on the Capitec banking app, using *120*3279#, or internet banking.
“Just as Capitec became a challenger within banking, we are now questioning the norms for prepaid mobile data and airtime,” it said in a statement on Monday.
It offers 100MB of data for R4.50, and 1GB for R45. The data never expires provided the SIM is used at least once every six months.
“South Africans have been complaining about the cost of data. It’s expensive and complicated,” said Capitec CEO Gerrie Fourie.
“Bundle pricing, off-peak and peak rates, and the fact that your data expired are all things that make no sense.”
Fourie said Capitec is changing all of that by giving clients access to mobile services that are simpler to understand and more affordable.
“It is through partnerships such as the one between Capitec and Cell C that we can make a major difference in bridging the digital divide that still exists in our country,” said Cell C CEO Douglas Craigie Stevenson.
Capitec noted that regulations proposed in 2017 by industry regulator ICASA and National Consumer Commission advocated for data to remain valid for three years.
Source: Eyewitness News, Business Tech, My Broadband, image from Twitter
