MTN confirms 2026 Black Friday campaign as FNB forecasts 25% of spend goes online
South Africa's biggest mobile operator says it has already spent on network and digital capacity ahead of the November sales event, and the country's largest bank expects a quarter of all Black Friday money to move through online channels.
MTN will take part in Black Friday 2026 and says it has already put money into its digital channels so that the November rush does not break them.
As MyBroadband reported on 18 September, the operator confirmed it will run a campaign across selected price plans, devices, data and voice offerings, and that further deal details will be announced in the coming weeks. That is the shape of the commitment so far. The catalogue is not out yet.
What is out is the preparation. MTN says it invested in the capacity and resilience of its digital channels ahead of the event, the systems that carry orders, activations and payments when traffic spikes. The company says it expects strong demand, particularly for data-centric products, affordable devices and bundled offers.
What the operator is preparing for
Black Friday remains one of the largest retail moments on the South African calendar, and for a mobile network it is a test of infrastructure rather than a test of marketing. A deal that cannot be bought is not a deal.
The 2025 campaign is the useful benchmark. MTN ran its Black FriYAY promotion for two weeks, starting the Monday before Black Friday and closing in the week after the sales event. Home Internet offers opened in the second week of November, three weeks ahead of the day itself, and the campaign leaned hard on home and mobile connectivity.
The headline product was a Shesh@5G 1000 plan at R499 a month, carrying 1TB of data, a free router and 500GB of bonus data. MTN also discounted its Home Internet Starter plan, which runs at 15Mbps with a free-to-use 5G router, and ran specials on smartphone packages built around Samsung, Huawei, Vivo and Oppo handsets.
Whether the 2026 campaign runs as a single day or an extended window has not been confirmed. The pattern of recent years points to an extended promotion, and the company has not ruled one in or out.
The money is moving online
FNB expects the 2026 shopping period to look much like 2025, only larger in the channels that matter most to the bank.
Marcel Jansen van Rensburg, credit card data science manager at FNB, said the bank anticipates continued momentum through the period based on last year’s performance. In 2025, FNB recorded a sustained shift to digital commerce, with growth in both transaction values and volumes, supported by wider adoption of digital wallets.
“As digital adoption continues to accelerate, we expect online shopping to remain a key driver of Black Friday spending activity in 2026,” she said.
The bank’s forecast puts roughly 25% of all Black Friday spending through online channels this year. It expects e-commerce transaction values to grow about 10% and volumes about 17%, tracking the 2025 figures. In physical stores, FNB recorded a more modest 4% rise in transaction values and 7% in volumes last year and expects a similar trend now, with cash use declining further as shoppers move to digital and contactless payments.
What it means for a South African shopper
The practical consequence is a queue that is increasingly digital. A quarter of the money spent will not pass through a till point, which means the pressure lands on network capacity, payment rails and delivery, not on mall parking.
For a household watching a budget, the two-week format MTN has used before spreads the spending window and reduces the single-day crush. The R499-a-month home data plan from last year is the kind of product that competes directly with fixed-line offers, and home connectivity has been the centre of the operator’s campaign for two years running.
There is also a warning in the numbers. A 17% rise in online transaction volumes against a 10% rise in value points to more, smaller purchases, which is consistent with shoppers buying essentials and lower-priced electronics rather than large-ticket items in one go.
What happens next
MTN has said deal details and promotions will be announced in the coming weeks. FNB’s forecasts are for the November shopping period. Both give the same instruction to anyone planning to buy: the offers are not public yet, and the network says it is ready for the traffic when they are.
The Enquirer has asked MTN for the dates of its 2026 campaign and for the categories it will lead on, and will report the details when the operator publishes them.
Source: MyBroadband, MTN has big Black Friday plans in South Africa
