Monzo Launch O2 Powered UK eSIM 5G Mobile Plans with Prices that Fall, Not Rise
Digital banking company Monzo has today followed rival Revolut by soft launching their own set of eSIM based mobile plans that are “simple, flexible and rewards staying, not switching“, which will be powered by O2’s (Virgin Media) national 4G and 5G mobile data (broadband) network. The service will also offer “seamless international roaming capabilities” through 1GLOBAL.
The UK market currently seems to have no shortage of virtual mobile providers, which would normally make it difficult for new entrants to establish themselves. But Monzo, not unlike Revolut, benefits from being able to promote this service to an already well-established customer base (14 million of them) – alongside some unique incentives.
At present the Monzo Mobile page is still only showing a Wait-list option for joining, albeit alongside a summary of three mobile plans: £8 a month for 10GB (GigaBytes) of data, £12 for 30GB and £20 for unlimited data. Each plan also includes unlimited calls and texts, Hotspot support, Wi-Fi Calling and the ability to switch plans or cancel anytime.
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The £12 tier also adds 10GB of EU roaming (plus in 11 other countries) and 60 international minutes (monthly), with the 10GB of EU roaming being ramped up to 25GB on their £20 plan. But in terms of that claim to “reward” loyalty, the service promises to reduce the price that customers pay for their monthly rental by “5% off each year with up to 30% off over time. No hidden fees, no surprise charges“.
Duygu Yenidogan-Schmidt, GM of Core Banking at Monzo, said:
“Monzo Mobile is a natural extension of our mission to make money work for everyone. By bringing mobile connectivity into the Monzo app through a simple eSIM experience, we’re giving customers more visibility and control over another essential part of their everyday spending. Partnering with 1GLOBAL and Virgin Media O2 allows us to deliver a reliable, flexible and high-quality service, while continuing to build products that are simple, transparent and designed around our customers’ needs.”
Paul O’Sullivan, Director of Wholesale Mobile at VMO2, said:
“This partnership underlines the strength of the O2 network and our position as the UK’s trusted host of choice for MVNOs. Our unrivalled record helping partners launch and scale, alongside continued investment to upgrade and expand our mobile network, will enable us to support Monzo Mobile with ever-improving services.”
A quick look at the small print indicates that the service will go fully live this “Summer 2026“, which technically starts next week if we’re talking about meteorological summer, but they haven’t given a precise date yet.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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It would be nice to see all ISPs rewarding loyalty through defined discounts, rather than hiking prices or running loyalty schemes with giveaways.
I do fail to see how this is going to gain much organic traction, they’ve chosen the weakest network to launch on and the MVNO space in the UK is already very saturated with very price competitive offerings. It seems anyone and their dog can launch one nowadays.
I suspect they may try and tie it into their other service offerings, like Revolut has done, and will make a moderate success of it by leveraging their ability to force it in front of eyeballs in their app.
I disagree personally. O2 has the least amount of MVNOs at this point so it is interesting.
Honestly people should just go with Honest instead of Monzo though, I think their loyalty pricing is relatively similar
O2 is the only provider with good coverage in my area. Combined with the roaming, I’m tempted.
there are tons of vodafone MVNOs, it is nice to see an o2 one for a change. Giffgaff is owned by o2, tesco mobile is part owned by o2 as they have a stake in it. sky mobile is only independent MVNO but don’t offer 30 day plans. So hopefully Monzo can offer a competitive 30 day sim only that rewards banking customers. Yes o2 is terrible but they will always have areas where they are better than other networks.
Tons of Vodafone MVNOs? VOXI and Talkmobile are owned by Vodafone leaving Lebara and Asda Mobile as the only two MVNOs.
@Jay you also need to remember that they’ll have all the Three MVNOs at some point.
@Jay you missed out revolut mobile which is run on vodafones network now also, plus all the three MVNOs because of the merger deal, they are already network sharing now. In comparison, they have loads compare to O2 MVNOs.
I can only get 5g with three and O2 (Giffgaff) at my house so its good to have an alternative as my three broadband connection is proving to be a bit flakey these days.
So is this the cheapest O2 mmvo unlimited data SIM at £20 per month with a 30 day contract?
Just to add don’t believe the EE coverage map as it claims I can get 5g+ and 5g which I can’t, only 4g.
@insertfloppydiskhere
Let’s not forget Three will be a MVNO at some point now that Voda own it all.
I imagine the loyalty bonus will simply offset the yearly price rises. Still, better than nothing!
The loyalty discount is a nice touch, but 5% per year up to 30% is nowhere near worth it, especially at those prices. Presumably the prices can incur the usual yearly increases as well.
Same bad as Revolut offer and has no start to Spusu.
I’m a little disappointed by this. I was hoping they’d be an EE MVNO. o2 is a poor choice in my opinion and the prices aren’t great
@Le With EE MVNOs, you already get good cheap deals with 1pmobile, spusu and mozillion.
With Revolut offering unlimited data/SMS/calls and a NordVPN subscription for £15 I can’t see the attraction here. Maybe Revolut’s 150GB fair-use policy might be an issue but if so Community Fibre is £17 (or £15 if you’ve got their FTTP) with a 750GB FUP.
Revolut is also £12.50 pcm if you sign up before the end of July, can’t actually find the menu option though
‘ But Monzo, not unlike Revolut, benefits from being able to promote this service to an already well-established customer base (14 million of them)’?
Revolut has 13 million UK customers?
Monzo say that they have 15mn customers.
A lot of people say O2 is poor but it depends where you live O2 is the best for me and surrounding areas getting 2-4 bars 4G and speeds of around 15-130 Mbps
Since Vodafone and three have merged and 3G switch off they have got worse
Well I’m on the waiting list, with no commitment it’s worth a punt, if only to see if 02 has improved in my area.
They’ve rolled out 5G SA here now according to their checker. Not sure if MVNOs get access or not.
They’ve partnered with the worst network in the country. Many people mention “it depends on the area” but being a lorry driver I travel to places all over the UK. I have a Honeywell device in the cab which uses the O2 network and honestly it barely works anywhere! The maps that show me my route keeps going down, my location data keeps failing to send back to HQ, the network is just completely useless!
Don’t get me wrong, for voice calls and texts there’s no better network as it legitimately has the best coverage, but for data they are the absolutely the worst. Full signal and things just timing out or refusing to load!
Maybe the honeywell is just a pile of c***.
O2 is no worse than the others, some just see it more in certain places, however over the past 3 years I’ve seen a massive increase in performance on O2 and a visible upgrades program taking a good stance across the UK.
travelling, specially across Scotland, with 3/VF being a runner up contender.
EE is a go too for the city but these days I think they have fallen off in the last 4 years which was to be expected to be fair.
At the end of the day, all mobile networks in the UK suck for one reason…. low density mast/backbone ratio to users, don’t see this issues elsewhere in the world (not in my experience anyway)
I agree, Mark. I’ve been with Giffgaff for 13 years and the data part of the service has been getting worse over the years. I can have full signal and everything shows connected, but no data flows, or barely. I’m looking to move over to Lebara on EE.
meme bank joins forces with meme mobile network
KEK
For people with a Monzo account it may be okay. Still more than what I am paying with Smarty at the moment. Also Esim only. It is not something that is going to be for me.
Smarty reduced the price once by a quid over the last 6 years, but they have never increased it. So I am paying £1 a month less than I was six years ago and not needing to have any other service with them
That can change and may do now that it belongs to Vodafone, but we will see what happens.
The major issue with MVNOs is that they don’t get priority over users on the direct contracts with the network provider. So if you are are at a concert or football ground with a large crowd, you will find it almost impossible to use Internet with an MVNO. I have experienced this first hand on many occasions as I am with Giffgaff because I need an O2 signal where I live as other networks don’t seem to think my part of the world exists. But I have a back up 3 Sim card which I get a data pack for 1 month if I am going to a concert or other large gathering. The dual sim in the phone works well and I just swap to run data on the 3 sim leaving calls through giffgaff. I do think the Monzo idea is a good one, but hey will have to get the £8 plan to have roaming if they are going to get my business.
I’m sure we’ll feel that £8 loss!
Worth updating the article, Monzo announced some interesting roaming locations for the unlimited plan.
I wonder what security will be in place when there has been a SIM swap and a large bank transaction