Revolut set to offer mobile plans in Germany and the UK this year #NewsGerman

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.

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.

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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.

“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.