For retailers and loyalty programmes

Retail MVNO: earn beyond the basket

Launch a mobile service under your brand: earn from the monthly connectivity spend, and reward customers for shopping with you.

Book a readiness call Run the contribution calculator

Two offers: more data, or a lower bill
One stack: catalogue, loyalty, partner tools, billing
The channel: your stores and your app

Reviewed by Alexander Donskoy, Sales Director, Avante · Last reviewed 2026-09

A new revenue stream, built around your shoppers

Recurring revenue from monthly spend

Sell plans and top-ups under your brand and keep the contribution after network and service costs. A paying base grows alongside the retail business.

Repeat shopping (shop → data)

Eligible purchases earn data or mobile bill credit. Focus rewards on selected products, visits or spending thresholds. Give members another reason to choose your stores.

Reward economics (points → data)

Offer a mobile benefit fulfilled at the agreed wholesale cost. Set a budget and a reward cap per member. Test the value and cost against cash discounts.

Your channels (stores + app)

Put the mobile offer in your app and selected stores, and use the existing member relationship to introduce it. Include onboarding and channel costs in the case.

One customer relationship: mobile contribution plus the opportunity for more retail value. Actual contribution and retail uplift depend on take-up, costs and measured customer behaviour.

Retailers already connect shopping and mobile

Pick n Pay Mobile, South Africa

relaunched in July 2025 with an app, instant eSIM activation and self-registration; Smart Shopper purchases earn 1MB of data per rand spent.

Source: TechCentral, 29 July 2025.

Tesco Mobile, United Kingdom

5.7 million customers at the end of 2024; mobile spending earns Clubcard points and Clubcard vouchers reduce the bill.

Source: Telecompaper, September 2025.

Carrefour Mobile

live in Belgium, Spain, Italy, Greece, Poland and Brazil; members link a loyalty card to a SIM and redeem points for credit.

Source: Carrefour Mobile.

Bait (Walmart), Mexico

around 20 million lines; Mexican MVNOs now hold 15.9% of the market, ahead of Movistar.

Source: TeleSemana / IFT, August 2025.

Shoprite, Mr Price, TFG, Spar

South African retailers with live MVNOs on Cell C and MTN.

Source: TechCentral, June 2025.

Independent businesses, not Avante deployments. They establish the mechanism; size the opportunity on your own customer base.

An offer customers can understand

A proposed offer: keep your number, link your membership, earn benefits on eligible purchases.

Option A · More data

A fixed monthly price. Eligible shopping adds data within a funded allowance.

Option B · A lower bill

A fixed mobile package. Redeem points against the bill within a funded limit.

Why customers would consider switching: rewards on everyday purchases, one linked membership, the same number, a reward and cap they can see, and a brand and channels they already know. Start with the benefit your members value most.

The customer journey

The benefit is only worth what the next shop is worth, so the journey is a circle rather than a funnel: the reward is spent on the line, and the line is topped up by shopping with you again.

01
Join the mobile plan
in the app or at the till, with a SIM or an eSIM.
02
Link the loyalty account
the card or account becomes the reward rule.
03
Shop and earn
a receipt scan or a linked-card purchase triggers the benefit under the programme's rules.
04
Use the balance
data or bill credit the customer can see, in your app.

the reward is worth another shop, and the balance is visible in your app

Growth scenarios: extend the offer as customers show what they value

Member benefits

mobile spending earns loyalty points
member status unlocks a plan benefit
points reduce the mobile bill within a cap
a paid loyalty tier includes extra data

Basket → mobile

basket → data or minutes next month
target SKU → multiplier
receipt → bonus
programme status → package
partner purchase → data
paid loyalty tier → mobile included
family on one profile
number porting → welcome reward

Mobile → store

unused allowance → store voucher
declining activity → win-back offer
new SIM → programme onboarding
top-up at the till → points
roaming and travel → trip-related offer
offer response → segment refinement
repeat payment → loyalty reward
group and family reward

Distribution and eSIM

SIM at the till
eSIM in the app
registration at the till or in the app
tourist SIM in the malls
eSIM in a partner storefront
allowance balances in the app
time-limited bundles
regional and country bundles

Subscription and marketplace

mobile inside the paid loyalty tier
mobile + delivery subscription
marketplace mobile offers
sponsored mobile service for customers
mobile + card
mobile + cashback
allowance upsell
VAS and digital services

B2B (staff, suppliers, franchisees)

employee plans
employer-sponsored service
supplier and franchisee plans
courier and fleet plans
limits by employee and group
POS terminals and IoT on M2M SIMs
allocated accounts and reporting
private APN and enterprise portal

Candidate scenarios, subject to commercial rules, available events and integration scope. Configure supported rules; assess new integrations separately.

Avante connects the reward promise to the mobile account

Configure

Product teams shape the offer. Supported plans, rewards and partner rules are configured, and billing applies the charge and the benefit to the customer's account.

Connect

A purchase turns into a benefit: integrate the receipt or loyalty event, check eligibility, apply the reward. We can demonstrate the whole flow on your chosen offer.

Operate

Avante implements and supports the BSS. Managed service and 24×7 support can be included in the agreed operating scope.

Expand

Add products, partners and network components as the model grows. The delivered Medium-to-Full reference shows the path.

Your systems connect once

loyalty engine
POS / receipts
app and e-commerce
ERP
CDP / retail media
payment gateway, all through the Avante API. The host operates its network, you own your channels, and Avante delivers the platform and the integrations.

Choose the control your offer needs

For deeper loyalty integration, compare the actual capabilities and economics of both options. Model names vary by market. → Compare models

Host-led / light models — a practical entry point with a narrower scope

Use more of the host's or enabler's platform for a smaller initial operating scope. Check the actual pricing tools, loyalty interfaces and customer-data rights available under the contract. Suitable when those tools can deliver the offer and the economics work.

Own BSS / Medium, with a path to Full — more control over products, billing and reward rules

Control products, billing and reward rules in your own BSS, integrated with loyalty. Add network functions through Full MVNO when the extra control justifies the investment. Avante supports a modular path; interfaces and any migration work are scoped in advance.

Launch one offer. Prove the economics. Expand.

For a scoped Medium launch Avante plans around four to six months after host and legal readiness; confirm this in discovery. A retail loyalty MVNO on existing host infrastructure has gone commercially live in two months. Timing is an Avante planning assumption, not a guaranteed launch date.

01
Define value — business case
Choose a member segment, one reward and the target economics.
02
Secure the host — readiness gate
Agree wholesale terms, coverage, approvals and the operating model.
03
Build the MVP — agreed scope
Deploy the BSS and connect the first offer to loyalty, payments and sales.
04
Run the pilot — measure
Check activation, rewards, service quality, paying retention and contribution.
05
Expand — decision gate
Add stores and offers when the agreed commercial and service thresholds are met.

What could a paying mobile base contribute?

Illustration on your inputs — not a forecast, not Avante pricing, not a market benchmark. Contribution, not net profit. No take-up rate or uplift is assumed. Use actual host terms and a downside case.

On your inputs

The scale equation — 5× lines at the same unit contribution

Delivered on Avante

A retail loyalty MVNO

purchases and mobile rewards linked on Avante: a receipt scan or a linked-card purchase triggers mobile benefits under partner-specific reward rules; 100k+ subscribers, 30+ partners configuring their own offers in the catalogue; commercial launch two months after start on existing host infrastructure. Reference detail available under NDA.

An operator at scale

Avante's largest MVNO reference moved from Medium to Full and to a multi-host setup on the same BSS; a reference for platform scale and operation. Retail returns need a retail business case.

Frequently asked questions

Can a retailer become an MVNO without a telecom team?

Yes. The host operator provides the network, Avante implements and can operate the BSS, and your teams work on the offer, the stores and the app. Retailers from Tesco to Pick n Pay run mobile services this way.

How does shopping turn into mobile data?

A purchase event — receipt scan, linked-card transaction or loyalty-programme event — is checked against the reward rules in the product catalogue; eligible events add data, minutes or bill credit to the mobile account, within a funded cap the customer can see. The rules are configuration, and partners can manage their own offers within the model you set.

Do we need a full MVNO to link loyalty and mobile at transaction level?

No. A Medium MVNO with an API between the billing platform and the loyalty engine delivers real-time reward logic; Full adds network elements you only need when independence from the host justifies it.

What does a retail MVNO earn?

Contribution per line after network, rewards, payments and service costs, times the paying base — plus retail uplift you can measure. The calculator on this page runs the equation on your inputs; the investment decision follows your costs and payback target.

Can we sell SIMs at the till and eSIMs in the app?

Yes — SIM at the till, eSIM in the app, registration at either, tourist SIMs in malls, allowance balances in the app; all in the standard scenario library.

How fast can we launch?

Medium: four to six months after host and legal readiness. Where the host's infrastructure and interfaces are already in place, a loyalty MVNO has launched commercially in two months.

See how this could work for your retail business

In the first conversation: your market and the customers you want to serve, the loyalty benefit you want to create, your app and store channels, Avante's relevant references and the scope of a demonstration on your offer. Then we build the case together: a proposition and a scoped pilot, economics on your costs and host terms, a delivery plan with clear responsibilities, and a decision on the pilot.

Arrange an introduction