Publications
Partners
Johannesburg - On June 15, First National Bank (FNB) will become the first financial institution in South Africa to launch its own mobile network.
FNB Connect will sell contract and prepaid packages via its online, cellphone and retail branch banking channels.
And as Fin24’s technology editor, I’ve been given an opportunity to test out FNB’s mobile network over the last 24 hours on a Samsung dual-SIM smartphone.
Using the dual-SIM phone, I’ve had the chance to see how FNB’s network, which rides on Cell C’s infrastructure, compares in coverage to other networks such as MTN.
I’ve tested FNB’s network in high-density urban areas around Sandton, Johannesburg which is South Africa’s financial capital and probably the one place in the country where you need to have good connectivity.
Subsequently, below is my review of the postives and negatives of FNB’s mobile network offering. (A full list of FNB’s pricing for its mobile network is available at the bottom of this story as well.)
Disclosure: I’m an FNB customer and this is why I’ve been able to test the FNB mobile phone network. Only FNB customers can access this network.
The positives
Let’s start with the positives. FNB’s mobile network service is putting other cellphone providers to shame when it comes to controlling your account online.
If you’re an FNB customer, from June 15 you’ll have the opportunity to buy FNB SIM cards from the bank’s online banking portal.
Here, you just log in normally to your FNB portal to access this offering like you do when you log into your online banking profile with FNB. Obviously, you have to be an FNB banking customer to buy FNB SIM cards.
What is great about this is that FNB uses the data it has about you according to FICA (Financial Intelligence Centre Act) regulations. So, you then don’t have to undergo RICA (Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication-Related Information Act) requirements to buy a SIM card through FNB. This means that you don’t have to jump through the hoops of handing over the likes of your proof of residence and copies of your identity documents to get a FNB SIM card.
Being a bank, FNB has this advantage over other mobile networks and this is a big win if you need to purchase a SIM card quickly. Also, FNB delivers the SIM card to you for free of charge, at least at this stage. (This might change in future, FNB techies have told me.)
Apart from buying your SIM card online, you can also purchase your phones separately from FNB. This means your SIM card contract is separate from your phone contract with FNB. So, if you want to pay off your phone quicker with FNB, you can. You’ll find it hard to discover other mobile operators offering this same service.
Once you’re all good to go with an FNB SIM card, you’ll notice in your FNB online banking profile that a new tab appears called ‘My SIM cards’.
This is a clever feature. Firstly, it lets you see your spend on your FNB SIM card as it happens. All your calls, data top-ups, SMS charges are available in full view and updated as they happen, meaning you don’t have to wait for bill-shock at the end of the month.
It is also presented in a simple manner and you won’t need a doctorate to decode your bill. Another plus with this technology offering is that both prepaid and contract users can view their real-time bill charges. Prepaid charges are notoriously difficult to view on other networks.
FNB's online banking portal lets you see your spend on your SIM cards. (Gareth van Zyl)
Apart from having more control over seeing how your mobile phone spend happens each day, FNB is also giving its mobile network users more control over how they organise their SIM cards.
Clicking on the settings option under FNB’s online banking SIM tab shows up a number of features that users can edit.
For example, you have the option to give a SIM card a specific name like ‘Home’ or ‘3G Router’ to help easily keep control over your spend.
The online portal here also gives you an option to block a SIM in case it’s lost. But what if you then find that SIM under your couch and it hasn’t been stolen? Well, FNB then allows you to unblock it again via the online banking portal.
Other features in this setting page include being able to order a replacement SIM, conduct a SIM-swap, manage call forwarding, and enable or disable overseas calls.
For prepaid users who fear running out of airtime during an important call, FNB also has a fix for that. You can tell FNB via your online banking profile to top you up with a pre-selected amount, such as R20, when your airtime is running low.
All of these features are great and I don’t know why other mobile networks haven’t thought of this already.
Of course, other banks will try to emulate FNB in its mobile network endeavours, especially if FNB Connect proves to be a success. Hopefully, this will spur mobile operators and banks to offer customers more in terms of control over their phone bills, because this is something that should have been done five years ago already.
The negatives
So, FNB is providing a great option in terms of getting a SIM card quicker and better controlling your mobile phone spend.
But what is the downside here?
Firstly, you have to be an FNB customer to access this offering. I don’t think a lot of South Africans are really willing to change their banks that easily. You could of course, stay with your non-FNB bank and sign up an extra FNB account just to take part in FNB’s mobile network. But from an admin point of view, this will be a pain.
Another sticking point might be FNB’s out-of-bundle charges. Yes, FNB is selling 1GB data bundles on all plans for R145 and 2GB data bundles for R245.
But if you’re not disciplined in buying these bundles, you could find yourself as a prepaid user paying R2 per MB, according to the bank’s pricing list (see below). The ironing out of this price does still needs to be clarified more, but be careful in the meantime.
Also, while FNB has a flexi contract option - which is good in that it lets you control how long you want your contract to be - I still don’t understand why FNB is also offering 24 month contracts.
FNB Connect’s CEO Ravesh Ramlakan told me that customers out there still want 24 month contracts. In markets like the US, operators such as T-Mobile are doing away with these 24 month contracts because they’re inflexible - you’re tied down for two years.
Seeing as FNB is a mobile virtual network operator using Cell C, this also presents another risk for 24 month contract holders.
Reports have been swirling that Oger Telecom could sell Cell C. FNB does say that an agreement has been signed to ensure that this won’t affect FNB mobile customers if Cell C is sold.
But can we really be 100% sure about that? This has a big question mark hanging over it for me personally.
Finally, there is one sticking point for me regarding the FNB mobile network and that, unfortunately, is FNB’s choice of the Cell C network.
Yes, Cell C is spending billions on upgrading the likes of its LTE network.
But testing out the FNB mobile network in the last 24 hours, I’ve unfortunately already experienced times in Johannesburg where my phone lost Cell C coverage.
Now, FNB’s network in these cases switches over to roaming on Vodacom, and you'll still have a network as I experienced. But what is annoying here is that on an Android device I started receiving messages warning me that the FNB network has lost its range on Cell C and that it’s switching over to Vodacom roaming.
Losing signal on FNB's mobile network can be irritating. (Gareth van Zyl)
Many people might find these warning messages annoying. It also shouldn’t be happening in a major urban area like Johannesburg.
Cell C needs to fix this, and maybe with their network investment, this will become a problem of the past.
Conclusion
FNB is innovating in terms of how South African mobile networks should let their customers order SIM cards and how they should openly and transparently be able to manage their bills.
Downsides to the FNB network so far include the fact that you have to be an FNB customer to buy FNB SIM cards. Also, seeing as FNB is introducing a number of innovations, I think they should have gone the full way and ditched the 24 month contract offers. There could also be confusion over their data pricing and FNB possibly needs to simplify its pricing model.
Finally, as mentioned, a big concern is FNB’s roaming on the Cell C network, which is not as widespread in reach when compared to other mobile networks.
Overall, it will be interesting to see if FNB disrupts the local mobile network space.
*Gareth van Zyl is Fin24's senior technology editor.
