Melon Mobile is taking another stab at winning over enterprise and business customers, with a relaunch of its business portal.
Melon is one of a handful of mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) in SA. MVNOs are usually non-telecom businesses — including the likes of FNB, Standard Bank Mobile, Mr Price Mobile and Pick n Pay — that lease network infrastructure from mobile operators to sell data and voice services to their customers.
The Cape Town-based company uses MTN’s network.
On Tuesday, Melon relaunched its business portal, saying it was “a massive leap forward for SA businesses”. The company said the new portal removes friction and gives more control to companies managing their telecommunication consumption.
Melon’s enterprise unit was launched in November 2023 as a way to offer bulk communication services to small businesses. Where in the past companies would pay for a number of fixed lines for use in their operations and various staff members, many have shifted to mobile phones for the same purpose.
Melon Business is the company’s service for business owners to manage phones, numbers, data packages and bill payments, among a host of related activities.
The unit competes squarely with similar offerings from larger players Vodacom, MTN, Telkom and Cell C.
Melon said the platform, built in partnership with technology expense management firm Apex BI, introduces a level of customisation, scalability and insight that has never been seen in the local telco space.
The new portal allows businesses to do a number of things, such as: building custom monthly mobile plans for every user, team or department; manage SIMs and eSIMs at scale with tools that work across teams, locations and cost centres; onboarding teams; real time tracking and reporting usage; built-in cost centre tracking, smart analytics and budget control tools; and IOT [internet of things] SIM and data allowance management.
“We built this for the companies who’ve outgrown old-school ways of doing business,” said Melon Business CEO Marius van Rensburg.
“The Melon Business portal is for anyone looking for better, faster, simpler mobile connectivity. It’s not just a new telco. It’s mobile made brilliantly simple.”
SA’s MVNO market, expected to reach 10-million customers, has been growing over the past decade. The arena is now more crowded after a requirement that mobile network operators host at least three MVNOs was made a part of their spectrum licence conditions from 2022.
For many years Cell C was the only telecom firm providing MVNO services, but licensing reforms by the regulator and expectations of market growth have encouraged MTN to take the market more seriously. Now the second-largest operator, it lured Standard Bank away from Cell C in June.
With Vodacom and Telkom now in the game, that leaves Liquid Intelligent Technologies and Rain to secure MVNO clients.
For a number of years the largest MVNO player in SA was FNB. However, Capitec Connect has now emerged as SA’s largest MVNO with 1.6-million customers, relegating FNB Connect to second place. FNB has about 1-million SIM cards in the market.
MVNOs constitute about 2% of total mobile subscribers in SA.
The information and communication technology research firm Africa Analysis MVNO report from February 2024 estimates the market’s potential revenue at R83.6bn a year.
Melon is also bullish about the market, having launched Melon Digital in February, which provides the technology and operational support needed for brands and businesses to start their own MVNO units.
Correction: July 23 2025
A previous version of this article stated that Melon Mobile uses Cell C’s network. This has been changed to show that the company uses MTN.
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