A New Layer in the Fintech Stack

When OnePay Wireless quietly dropped into the app this September, it didn’t come with flashy billboards or elaborate fanfare. But it didn’t need to. For users already living much of their financial lives through OnePay, the new service felt less like an announcement and more like a logical next tile in a growing mosaic.

OnePay, the Walmart-backed financial platform, has introduced a fully integrated mobile service plan into its ecosystem, priced at $35/month. The plan includes unlimited 5G data, talk, and text, all running on AT&T’s network infrastructure. It can be activated instantly via eSIM, within the OnePay app itself. There are no credit checks. No activation fees. No paperwork. Just a digital nudge, and you’re connected.

The Super App Strategy: More Than Just Banking

Launched in 2021, OnePay has been quietly shaping itself into a multifunctional fintech platform. Already, it supports a cashback debit account, high-yield savings, domestic and international peer-to-peer transfers, instalment loans via Klarna, and both Mastercard and store-branded credit cards through Synchrony. Each new layer has been less about feature expansion and more about capturing more daily moments of the user’s financial journey.

The wireless service fits neatly into this trajectory. It transforms OnePay from a money app into a utility hub. It keeps users logged in, engaged, and spending. From a product design standpoint, it’s not just about offering telecom; it’s about embedding that experience where the user already is.

A Quiet Global Trend Is Growing Louder

OnePay isn’t the only fintech moving into telecom. Klarna recently launched its own plan with the same backend provider, Gigs, in the U.S. N26 has partnered with Vodafone in Germany. Revolut’s entry into the mobile space is live in the UK and Germany, though still on a waitlist basis. Monzo, according to several reports, may be preparing for a similar move.

What’s striking is not just the geographic spread but the consistency in the approach: low-cost, embedded, app-native mobile services offered directly by digital finance platforms. This signals something more strategic than cross-selling. It’s a reshaping of what a financial app is allowed to be.

The Engine Behind the Offering

The operational lift behind OnePay Wireless is handled by Gigs, a Berlin-based telecom-as-a-service startup that allows non-telco companies to resell mobile data and voice services inside their apps. Gigs handles the telecom logistics; OnePay handles the user interface and customer relationship. This kind of infrastructure-sharing model is making it easier for fintechs to offer services that would have been unthinkable a few years ago without building towers or acquiring licenses.

Walmart’s Role in Distribution

Walmart brings scale to the table. With over 255 million customers shopping at Walmart each week, the pipeline for new OnePay users is already built. More than three million people currently use OnePay, and the company reportedly holds a valuation of $2.5 billion. Its annualised revenue run rate sits above $200 million. The ability to activate a mobile plan instantly through the same app that manages your savings account or BNPL instalment means OnePay can now claim an even larger share of user attention.

In regions where banking access is fragmented or credit checks are a barrier to connectivity, a unified platform offering telecom and financial services could represent a form of digital inclusion. It is this dual access model—money and mobile—that makes the product globally relevant, even though it originates in the U.S. market.

Mobile Plans as an Engagement Strategy

The value of OnePay Wireless isn’t limited to the cost or convenience of the plan. It’s in the behavioural shift it could inspire. By merging everyday finance with mobile utility, OnePay increases user reliance on a single digital environment. That changes how users think about their financial app. It’s not just where they check their balance—it’s where they stay connected to work, to family, and to services.

For fintech brands, this integration also generates a constant stream of data points—location, usage patterns, payment behaviour—that can feed into smarter service design. The more integrated the user’s digital life becomes, the more context the platform can offer.

Where the Industry Is Headed

The question isn’t whether more fintechs will follow this path. It’s how quickly they can scale their telecom offerings and whether they can deliver them with the same reliability as legacy carriers. Platforms like Gigs reduce the barriers to entry, but building trust at scale remains a critical challenge.

OnePay’s wireless launch may appear modest in scope, but its implications stretch well beyond a $35/month plan. It reflects a future where the lines between financial services, telecom, and lifestyle infrastructure continue to blur—and where the most used apps are those that don’t just handle your money but your connection to the world.

Brand Strategy in a New Context

If you’re building a financial brand today, the OnePay model offers clear signals:

• Users are open to managing more of their lives in a single app.
• Embedded services increase retention.
• Digital-first onboarding—without paperwork or stores—is no longer optional.

This isn’t about telecom. It’s about engagement. It’s about where your users already are and what else they’re ready to do once they’re there.