Capitec Bank’s mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), which recently slashed its prices, is performing strongly, the company’s latest financial results show.

Capitec published its annual results for the year to end-February 2025 on Wednesday, which showed a 30% jump in headline earnings to R13.7-billion. “Strategic initiatives”, which include various value-added services and Capitec Connect, contributed R3.1-billion to group headline earnings, up from R2-billion in 2024.

Capitec Connect’s net income in the latest reporting period came to R193-million, up from R35-million a year ago, while subscribers with active Sim cards (active within six months – a particularly loose definition) increased by 74% to 1.6 million, with data usage jumping to 13.4 petabytes and voice usage reaching 307 million minutes.

The MVNO, which uses Cell C’s network, claims it offers the most affordable mobile services in South Africa.

Earlier this month, Capitec slashed the price of data bundles across the board, with the decision influenced by a poll of its customers that found that 87% of respondents reported that high data costs were restricting their access to critical work, education and other opportunities.

An October 2024 analysis by TechCentral comparing 30-day data bundle prices across all MVNOs showed Afrihost AirMobile had the cheapest bundles overall. With the latest price reductions from Capitec, however, the cost of a 5GB (R100) and 10GB (R150) from the bank matches the Afrihost AirMobile pricing, making the two MVNOs jointly the most affordable for data in South Africa.

Value-added services

Banking MVNOs like Capitec Connect are among the largest and most successful MVNOs in South Africa. TechCentral has previously reported that among its direct competitors, which include Standard Bank Connect, FNB Connect and the nascent Old Mutual Connect, FNB has the most expensive data prices, with 6GB – the closest bundle to the standard 5GB offered by other players in the industry – costing R279. FNB Connect’s 12GB bundle – again the closest to the 10GB industry standard – costs a staggering R499.

Meanwhile, Capitec said net income from value-added services (VAS) also spiked over the past year – up 56% to R4.2-billion.

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“This was due to higher client adoption as the VAS products mature, as well as an increase in the number of clients using VAS to 10.9 million,” it said on Wednesday.

“The growth in the number of clients that use our app provides a platform for growth in VAS transaction volumes as these transactions can only be performed on the app. A total of 85% of our app clients have performed a VAS transaction,” it said.

“As more clients transacted at greater frequency, volumes increased by 34% to 1.5 billion. A total of 1.2 million new clients used ‘send cash’ during 2025 and the transactions per client grew, increasing income generated by 61% to R973-million.