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Read by executives at JP Morgan, Coinbase, Blackrock, Klarna and more
In fintech, the most important shifts often happen quietly. While the industry watches IPOs, rate hikes, and regulatory crackdowns, another transformation is unfolding where few are looking: the mobile network.
Klarna announced a mobile service. Revolut had already done it. N26 and Nubank too. At first glance, these might seem like side projects or revenue experiments. But taken together, they suggest something more profound. Fintech is embedding itself into telecom—and it’s not a gimmick.
It’s a return to form.
Before smartphones, telecom companies were some of the original digital banks. Airtime was a store of value. Prepaid balances were traded informally. In countries without bank branches, phone credit became currency. That legacy never went away; it just paused while finance and communication evolved on separate tracks. Now, they’re converging again.
But this time, fintech isn’t just being layered onto telecom. Telecom is being rebuilt with financial infrastructure in mind.
A New Kind of Embedded Infrastructure
To understand what’s happening, it’s useful to look at what Klarna is really doing. It isn’t becoming a telecom operator in the traditional sense. Instead, it’s working with companies like Gigs, which allow any business to become a mobile service provider through API integrations. Klarna doesn’t need cell towers or data centers. It needs a flexible interface.
This model—white-label MVNOs powered by plug-and-play software—is quietly reshaping telecom. But for fintechs, the draw isn’t just ease of launch. It’s about user retention, data, and distribution.
Owning the SIM card, or at least the mobile interface, means being present in the most persistent, high-frequency part of a user’s digital life. Payments are occasional. Budgeting is sporadic. But mobile access is constant. And it’s that constancy fintechs are betting on.
Telecom becomes a channel for engagement, a trojan horse for brand loyalty, and a canvas for bundling. In a margin-sensitive industry, controlling the user journey matters.
Why Now?
None of this is new in theory. But timing matters. Several conditions are making this playbook more viable:
- Saturated fintech products. Most major players offer cards, accounts, transfers, savings, and even investing. Differentiation is hard to sustain. Telecom offers new surface area.
- Better APIs. Players like Gigs and 1GLOBAL have abstracted away the legacy telecom stack, making it possible for software-first companies to offer mobile plans without building from scratch.
- Rising CAC. Customer acquisition costs are rising across the board. Offering connectivity services increases lifetime value and creates new acquisition funnels.
- Global ambition. In markets with weak financial infrastructure but strong mobile penetration, telecom becomes the distribution path for financial services.
In this context, the move into mobile isn’t a brand stunt. It’s strategic.
The User Side: One Subscription to Rule Them All
For users, the pitch is straightforward: combine payments, communication, and identity into a single product. Instead of paying Klarna for buy-now-pay-later and AT\&T for mobile, why not just pay Klarna for both? Or better yet—get a discount on one when you use the other.
This is more than bundling. It’s an attempt to rebuild the relationship between consumers and digital services into something persistent and platform-like. A Klarna user who pays their phone bill through the app is more likely to open that app daily. A Revolut customer who receives alerts through a branded mobile plan is less likely to churn.
Mobile is not just a service. It’s a user retention engine.
What Telecom Learns From Fintech
This isn’t just a one-way experiment. Telecoms are also learning from fintech. Legacy operators have long struggled with user engagement, brand affinity, and innovation velocity. Financial services offer new levers for loyalty and monetization.
We’ve seen telcos dabble in wallets, credit scoring, and even insurance. But most efforts have felt like add-ons. The new wave—especially in high-growth markets like Africa and Southeast Asia—takes a fintech-first approach. The SIM card becomes a bank account. The mobile number becomes a wallet ID.
If fintechs are embedding telecom, telecoms are quietly re-embedding fintech.
The Risks
Of course, this shift isn’t guaranteed to work. Telecom is a tough business. Margins are thin. Regulation is heavy. Network quality can make or break a brand.
More importantly, bundling services doesn’t always create value. Just because you can combine mobile and payments doesn’t mean users want that. There’s a risk of bloated offerings that solve problems no one has.
And then there’s the infrastructure question. MVNOs depend on larger networks. Service issues can damage reputations. Fintech companies accustomed to rapid iteration may find telecom uncomfortably slow and complex.
What Comes Next
Still, the early signs are hard to ignore. Klarna isn’t testing this in Sweden. It’s launching in the U.S.—its most competitive market. That signals confidence. Others will follow.
But the real shift might not be Klarna at all. It might be the quiet rise of embedded telecom as infrastructure. If mobile connectivity becomes as modular as payments or messaging, we could see a flood of new entrants. Not all will succeed. But some will.
A few years ago, every app became a bank. Now, they may become a carrier too.
Not because telecom is the future of fintech. But because, in some markets, it’s the best way to get there.
In a world where attention is scarce and platforms are fragmented, owning even a small part of the connectivity layer gives fintechs an edge.
The SIM card, long dismissed as boring infrastructure, might just be the next great fintech wedge.
