Revolut’s Mobile Virtual Network Operator challenge in Europe an ecosystem play, not a true threat to MNOs, says GlobalData

After flagging the UK and Germany as early target markets in mid-2025, Revolut has now debuted mobile virtual network operator (MVNO)-based services exclusively for users of its payments app in the UK, Poland, and the Netherlands. „Despite an earlier promise to compete in a “direct challenge to traditional network providers,” the underlying motivation is not telco disruption for its own sake, but rather using connectivity to reinforce Revolut’s broader, digitally native “superapp” proposition with an emphasis on keeping customers within its own walled garden of value-added services”, according to GlobalData, a leading intelligence and productivity platform.

Natasha Rybak, Principal Analyst – Telecoms Practice, Technology at GlobalData, comments: “Revolut is looking to get attention for its mobile push by casting it as a telco showdown, but really, it’s a smart way to reinforce and expand its own value proposition. Mobile service here isn’t the end product; it’s the glue that helps Revolut keep customers engaged with its wider ecosystem of inter-related perks and in-app services.”

Key to Revolut’s playbook is productizing mobile plans in a way that fits its membership model and app-first customer experience. In the UK and the Netherlands, Revolut offers fully app-integrated plans featuring unlimited texts, calls, and domestic data, plus 20 GB of EU and US data roaming per month, with no fixed contract commitment and the option of payment via RevPoints.

In Poland, the app-integrated plan design is more capped, with tariffs offering up to 200 GB of domestic dataand15 GB of roaming data monthly. Revolut’s differentiation ultimately comes from packaging mobile connectivity alongside broader lifestyle and financial benefits, including travel booking, personal insurance, and RevPoints accumulation for payments and in-app transactions.

Rybak continues: “What stands out is the consistency. Revolut is taking a repeatable MVNO template and employing it in multiple markets. The plan mechanics, roaming allowances, and crucially, the option to pay using RevPoints, are built to feel like a natural extension of the Revolut app rather than a direct alternative to a traditional telco product catalogue.”

At the premium end, Revolut’s €650-per-year ‘Ultra’ tier bundles benefits such as 24/7 customer support, unlimited no-fee international transfers and weekday foreign exchange, fee-free global ATM withdrawals, inclusive global roaming data, subscriptions, airport lounge access, and travel and medical cover.

Rybak concludes: “This is the neobank playbook in action: stack services, deepen loyalty, and make the bundle hard to leave. Revolut Mobile is less about beating MNOs on core connectivity and more about making the Revolut ecosystem feel indispensable.”