Klarna wants to make one of your monthly bills disappear. The catch? You need to pay £44.99 a month for its premium membership first.

The Swedish fintech has added an unlimited mobile plan to Klarna Max in the UK, giving members data, calls, texts and international roaming at no additional charge when they switch their existing number. No separate mobile subscription, no lengthy contract and no need to visit a phone shop.

On the surface, it is another attractive perk in an already crowded membership package. But there is a bigger story here: mobile connectivity is becoming a feature of financial services rather than something consumers necessarily buy from a traditional telecom operator.

And Klarna is entering a market where Revolut and Monzo are already turning banking apps into mobile service providers.

What Klarna Max Members Actually Get

The new benefit turns Klarna Mobile into an included service for eligible Max members transferring their existing phone number. Klarna’s mobile offering had already reached UK customers earlier in 2026; the development is its inclusion in the premium membership package.

The mobile plan includes:

The 20GB roaming allowance is particularly interesting. For frequent travellers, having international data included in their everyday phone plan could reduce the need to purchase a separate travel eSIM for every trip.

READ MORE: Local SIM, Travel eSIM or Roaming? 

However, global roaming does not necessarily mean every country is covered. Travellers should check the destination list, whether international calls and texts are included, and what happens when the allowance runs out.

Klarna Max also includes 1.5% cashback, enhanced cashback at selected merchants, digital subscriptions, travel and car rental insurance, cancellation protection, airport lounge access and a metal payment card.

Klarna values its combined membership benefits at up to £6,000 annually. That is a promotional estimate of potential value, not a guaranteed saving. Actual savings depend on which benefits members would otherwise pay for and how frequently they use them.

Is the Mobile Plan Really Free?

Klarna’s argument is straightforward: replace an expensive phone subscription with the included mobile plan, and the rest of the membership becomes considerably more attractive.

“Mobile is one of the biggest recurring bills for UK households, so we wanted to zero it for our members,” said Klarna VP Product, Consumer Rewards Daniel Lange. “An unlimited plan with no contract at no extra cost makes a Klarna Max membership a no brainer, let alone the cashback, subscriptions and travel perks.”

There is a distinction worth making.

READ MORE: Revolut Mobile Launches £12.50 Unlimited 5G Plan in the UK 

An existing Max member who qualifies for the mobile benefit can potentially eliminate a separate phone bill without increasing their membership fee.

Someone joining exclusively for mobile connectivity would pay £539.88 annually for Max. That is considerably more than several standalone unlimited mobile plans.

The calculation changes when customers already use the cashback, subscriptions, insurance and travel benefits. But buying a premium membership simply to avoid a phone bill may not make financial sense.

The Bigger Story Is Who Controls the Customer

Klarna is not building its own nationwide mobile network. Its mobile initiative is powered by Gigs, a connectivity platform that enables consumer brands to launch mobile services without developing traditional telecom infrastructure themselves.

READ MORE: Gigs and the Rise of Embedded Connectivity Platforms 

This is where the announcement becomes much more interesting for the telecom industry.

The underlying connectivity can be supplied by an established operator, while a financial platform manages the customer relationship, digital onboarding, payments and service experience.

Klarna is turning an essential monthly expense into a membership benefit. Mobile connectivity becomes another reason to remain inside its financial ecosystem.

For traditional operators, that introduces a different kind of competition. They are no longer competing exclusively with other mobile brands on coverage, price or data allowances. They are also competing with platforms that can distribute connectivity as part of a much broader customer relationship.

READ MORE: How fintech, neobanks, travel platforms embed connectivity 

The eSIM makes that model particularly convenient: customers can activate a mobile service digitally, without visiting a store or waiting for a physical SIM.

And for connectivity enablers, Klarna demonstrates how telecom infrastructure can reach customers through companies whose primary business is not telecom at all.

Conclusion: The Mobile Plan Is Becoming a Distribution Tool

Klarna is not alone. Revolut Mobile offers unlimited UK data, calls and texts for £14.99 a month, with 20GB of EEA and US roaming. Monzo offers an unlimited UK plan for £20 a month, with 25GB of roaming across 55 countries. Both are managed through financial apps.

Those prices make Klarna Max difficult to justify as a phone-only purchase. But Klarna is selling something different: one membership that absorbs an everyday connectivity expense alongside travel and financial benefits.

That distinction matters for the next phase of embedded connectivity. Banks and fintechs can use mobile plans to deepen existing relationships rather than compete solely on gigabytes. Operators still supply the network, but may no longer own the moment when customers choose, activate or pay for their mobile service.

The next battleground is not simply cheaper data. It is who gets to package connectivity into the rest of your life.