1GLOBAL and Lidl Launch eSIM Plans in Ireland

How often do most people visit the supermarket? Once a week? Twice? Now, how often do they use mobile data? For most smartphone users, it's likely several times a day. In an increasingly digital world, brands recognize that every one of these interactions is an opportunity to engage with customers and build closer relationships. 

And the appetite for mobile services from familiar, trusted brands is clear. Within just 10 days of launching in Ireland, Lidl Connect, developed with 1GLOBAL, attracted more than 100,000 customers. It's an impressive early milestone for a supermarket entering the mobile market, demonstrating how an established consumer brand can quickly turn connectivity into a valuable new everyday service. 

The €8.99 eSIM mobile plan

The international supermarket chain Lidl recognized this opportunity and partnered with 1GLOBAL to develop a fully branded mobile service, integrated directly into the Lidl Plus app. 

The proposition is straightforward: mobile plans offering calls, texts and unlimited 5G data from €8.99 a month, with no long-term contract. Customers can sign up and activate their connectivity digitally, combining competitive pricing with the convenience of managing another everyday service through an app they already use. 

The launch is particularly notable because it marks Lidl's entry into eSIM-based mobile services. What was once an unusual move for a supermarket is becoming an increasingly compelling opportunity for consumer brands looking to expand beyond their traditional markets. 

While the added revenue a mobile service brings in is an obvious advantage, the transformative power a daily-used mobile service has on digital engagement and customer relationships has even greater long-term business potential. The same dual advantage applies to users: at just €8.99 a month (with no long-term contract), the Lidl mobile plan is one of the most competitively priced in Ireland. Being able to purchase their mobile plans through a trusted source is a bonus, one that allows customers to minimize the number of vendors and subscriptions in their digital lives.

“Subscription fatigue” is a growing concern for consumers and providers alike. Bundling services from insurance to shopping (and now mobile) allows Lidl customers to simplify their spending, without compromising on the quality, coverage, or pricing of their mobile service.

From supermarket to eSIM provider

The Ireland launch is the first step in a planned international rollout, and its early uptake provides an encouraging foundation for expansion. With more than 100,000 customers signing up in the first 10 days, Lidl has demonstrated the potential to introduce a mobile service to an established retail audience.

The next opportunity is to extend that proposition into additional markets, supported by 1GLOBAL's international telecom infrastructure. For Lidl, this means building on its growing role as a digital services provider, rather than operating solely as a traditional supermarket chain.

This distinction is important: today's embedded telco and eSIM technology allows established consumer brands to introduce and scale mobile services without having to build their own telecommunications infrastructure.

In a nation where in-store shopping is slowly declining, this diversification matters. Ireland has the highest percentage of online shoppers in Europe. Serving these needs with an online, daily-used service ensures Lidl remains a vital name in retail, even as the market evolves.

Entering the market with APIs

So how does an app with over 50 million unique users quickly integrate a new service, particularly one as complex and infrastructure-dependent as a mobile plan?

The answer lies in the 1GLOBAL Connect API, a proprietary software stack that allows any digital brand to host 1GLOBAL’s international telecommunications services on their own app or website, fully under their own branding and carefully integrated into their UI.

These APIs provide the link between the customer-facing brand and 1GLOBAL’s worldwide mobile network, providing reliable wireless coverage in over 200 countries. They are the reason brands with zero in-house telecoms experience can start supplying reliable mobile services to their customers and become serious alternatives to traditional mobile carriers.

Why now?

Lidl customers outside of Ireland need not worry- this current rollout is the latest phase in a long-term strategic partnership between Lidl and 1GLOBAL.

Even among established telecoms brands, entering new markets used to be an administrative nightmare – with every new market, teams would have to wrestle with new roaming access contracts, additional (sometimes conflicting) compliance regulations, and inconsistent coverage quality.

MVNEs like 1GLOBAL eliminate this stage by providing access to a network of pre-arranged roaming agreements with operators worldwide. The 1GLOBAL network comprises over 600+ agreements with carriers in 190+ countries: brands that employ 1GLOBAL white-label eSIM services have the freedom to expand their mobile service into any of these markets, all through a single operating partner.

This simplicity has created the ideal conditions for brands to enter the mobile market (or expand their existing services). As eSIM adoption becomes a worldwide phenomenon, the global demand for in-app mobile services is rapidly climbing. 1GLOBAL can help brands serve this — the Lidl collaboration is proof of the principle. After first partnering with 1GLOBAL earlier this year, the supermarket already has a functioning mobile service in one market, with more soon to follow.

Discover how 1GLOBAL helps businesses launch, develop and scale their own white-label eSIM services, or contact our team directly.