Lidl Partners With 1Global to Expand Mobile Service to New Markets

A tie-up between Lidl and 1Global, announced on Monday morning, paves the way for the supermarket chain to bring yet more competition to Europe’s already saturated mobile markets.

The two companies confirmed a strategic partnership that will see Lidl’s parent, Schwarz Group, take a 9.9% stake in 1Global. It’ll use this as a springboard to bolster its mobile strategy, including launching in markets where it already has a physical retail presence. The first offers will go live later this year.  This could include the UK, the US, France and Spain, but the company hasn’t said which will be first.

Lidl already offers a mobile service in Austria, Germany and Switzerland through mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) agreements with local operators. Its services are branded under Lidl Connect, and FDM CCS Insight estimates it has about 2.5 million customers in these markets. So far, however, it has acted as little more than a branded reseller of minutes and data. The partnership with 1Global enables it to take a far more influential role, including greater control over managing its own SIM cards, billing and services.

Partnering with 1Global is significant. Previously known as Truphone, the company is part of a growing breed of enablers supporting new brands to enter the mobile market. For 1Global, these already includes Revolut in Poland and N26 in Germany. Through its operator partnerships, it can do much of the heavy lifting that would otherwise prove costly and time-consuming for a new brand coming into the market. It has partnerships with mobile operators in 12 markets and plans to grow this to 30. Each could be a candidate for a Lidl mobile service.

The strategic partnership also includes the development of advanced telecom solutions in areas such as cloud computing and AI. This includes Schwarz Group’s StackIT cloud solution, which promises secure, sovereign and GDPR-compliant services using data centres located in Germany and Austria. It positions itself as an alternative to large technology companies based in the US.

Details about Lidl’s refreshed mobile strategy are thin. However, it is likely to continue to use the group’s brand values about affordability and simplicity that will place further downward pressure on mobile pricing. That’s good news for consumers, but another headache for operators.

Working with 1Global will help Lidl take a digital-first approach to its mobile offer. This could include using eSIM, which is powering Revolut’s mobile service. It has also teased a major role for the Lidl Plus loyalty app, through which I expect the mobile service will be offered. This would replicate what Gigs is doing with partners such as Klarna and Lendable. Lidl Plus claims more than 100 million users, representing a huge market to cross-sell mobile services into.

It’ll be interesting to see the extent to which Lidl brings its mobile and grocery services together. Surprisingly, Lidl Connect and Lidl Plus currently operate independently of each other with no benefits or discounts offered to mobile customers using the grocery stores or vice versa. This feels like a missed opportunity, but it may be that the new partnership will prompt a change in approach.

Lidl could take some inspiration from Mexico’s Bait Mobile, part of grocery giant Walmart, which passed a staggering 26 million customers in 2025. One of the drivers of its success is an offer of free mobile data linked to in-store purchases.

Meanwhile, Tesco Mobile in the UK is exploiting Tesco’s successful Clubcard loyalty programme, which represents more than 20 million supermarket shoppers. Clubcard customers earn loyalty points when they spend with Tesco Mobile, gain discounts on selected mobile phone and SIM-only deals, and are exempt from the inflation-linked price rises otherwise applied to customers each year.

Although Tesco Mobile already has a strong position in the UK with more than 5.5 million customers, Lidl may still consider it a priority market for its expanded mobile service. The MVNO sector in the UK is thriving, with a 10% increase in customers last year in an otherwise flat overall mobile market. It supports our forecast that virtual providers will represent more than 25% of all retail mobile connections in the UK by 2029. In the UK, 1Global currently has partnerships with BT and Virgin Media O2. This would suggest a launch is likely to use one of these two networks. However, it’s looking to add more operators to its roster, potentially also opening the door to VodafoneThree, which is keen to grow its share among MVNOs.

In addition, just last week Lidl announced plans to open more than 50 new stores in the UK over the next 12 months as part of a £600 million investment.

In Ireland, rumours of Lidl and Aldi launching an MVNO have been doing the rounds for a while. A launch would amplify the already strong levels of market competition that accelerated when Sky launched a disruptive mobile offer in 2024. However, 1Global doesn’t yet have any partnerships with the Irish networks.

Not all grocery brands have been successful in mobile. Mobile by Sainsbury’s was the supermarket’s second attempt at a mobile service in the UK, but it closed in 2016 after less than three years, having only signed up about 150,000 customers. And in France, retail giant Carrefour shuttered a service in 2012 blaming escalating competition. Both sound a warning to Lidl’s mobile aspirations. It’ll be interesting to see how its strategy unfolds.