Capitec Bank has scrapped call charges between its own Capitec Connect Sim cards in a sharp competitive move by South Africa’s largest mobile virtual network operator.
CEO Graham Lee announced the change at the group’s full-year results presentation in Stellenbosch on Wednesday, saying calls between any two Capitec Connect numbers are now free of charge. No fair-use thresholds or exact launch timing were disclosed at the time of publication.
Capitec also said it was expanding its device financing offer to include premium smartphones – including premium Apple and Samsung devices – alongside entry-level and mid-tier models.
Handsets can now be ordered through the Capitec app, with delivery in three days, and bought outright for cash or on credit with no deposit required.
According to a PowerPoint slide shared with investors, monthly instalments appear to start at R181 at the low end, while at the high end the iPhone 17 (256GB) is priced at R19 599 outright or from R802/month over 36 months. The Samsung Galaxy S26+ (512GB) is R24 999, or R1 000/month over three years.
All devices come with up to 5GB of free data each month for 12 months – worth up to R1 200, according to Capitec – when clients link their Capitec Connect Sim to their main bank account. Crucially, there is no network locking applied to the handsets, meaning they can be used on any operator.
Free to switch
Capitec’s device financing runs through its existing credit products – cash, credit card, Access Facility or Purpose Loans – rather than as a bundled mobile contract, meaning clients are free to switch to a different mobile network at any time.
Read: After mobile, Capitec Connect eyes home broadband push
Capitec Connect reported earlier on Wednesday that it had more than doubled its net income contribution in the 2026 financial year, to R442-million, with 1.5 million clients active in the past three months and data traffic effectively tripling to 40.5 petabytes. It also announced plans to launch home broadband services, without elaborating. Capitec Connect runs on Cell C’s wholesale network. — (c) 2026 NewsCentral Media
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