Lidl Ireland is officially moving into the mobile business. Its Lidl Connect SIM-only service goes live on Monday 5 October, and the first 100,000 customers to sign up will pay €8.99 a month for unlimited 5G data, calls and texts, with that price locked in for life.
The plan also includes 50GB of roaming data across the EU and UK, along with 100 international minutes. Once those first 100,000 places are gone, the same plan costs €12.99 a month. There’s no contract tying you in, so you can cancel whenever you like, and you can either keep your existing number or take a new one.
Back in April, when Lidl first revealed its plans to become a mobile operator, I looked at whether Lidl Mobile would come to Ireland and reckoned it would need to land somewhere around €7.99 to cause a proper stir. €8.99 is close enough to do exactly that. The more interesting part, though, is whose network it runs on, and I’ll get to that shortly.
What do you get with Lidl Connect?
For €8.99 a month, Lidl Connect gives you unlimited calls, texts and 5G data in Ireland, 50GB of roaming data in the EU and UK, and 100 minutes of calls to international numbers. There’s one plan and no tiers to wade through.
The roaming allowance is the standout. Budget SIM-only plans in Ireland have typically capped EU roaming below 20GB, so 50GB is a big jump if you travel regularly or spend time in Northern Ireland and Britain. Lidl hasn’t yet published the fair usage policy sitting behind the word “unlimited”, so heavy hotspot users should read the terms once they go live.
How to sign up for Lidl Connect
You can only sign up through the Lidl Plus app, which is also where you’ll manage the plan afterwards. You’ll need an active Lidl Plus account and a payment card registered in Lidl Pay, as set out in the Lidl Plus terms of use.
From there you have two options. You can pick up a physical SIM in any Lidl store for 99c, or go with an eSIM and do the whole thing from your phone. If you’re keeping your number, you request the port during sign-up, the same as moving between any other Irish networks.
Which network does Lidl Connect use?
Lidl Connect runs on the Eir network. Lidl isn’t building masts. Like GoMo, 48 and Clear Mobile, it’s a mobile virtual network operator, or MVNO, which means it rents capacity on an existing network and sells it under its own brand. The service is delivered by 1Global, a telecoms company that Lidl’s parent, the Schwarz Group, took a 9.9% stake in earlier this year.
Here’s the bit I find fascinating. GoMo is Eir’s own budget brand, and it charges new customers €14.99 a month for unlimited calls, texts and data on that same network. Lidl is now selling broadly the same thing on Eir’s masts for €6 a month less. It’s a strange position for Eir to be in, with a supermarket undercutting its own discount brand on its own infrastructure, and I’d be surprised if GoMo doesn’t respond.
Practically, it means that if Eir coverage is solid where you live and work, Lidl Connect should be too. If Eir is patchy in your area, a cheap price won’t make up for dropped calls.
How does Lidl Connect compare to GoMo, 48 and Clear Mobile?
At €8.99, Lidl Connect undercuts the standard pricing of every established budget brand in Ireland. GoMo sits at €14.99 for new customers, though it has run limited windows at €12.99 for life this year, while 48 (on Three) and Clear Mobile (on Vodafone) typically land between €12.99 and €14.99. The main operators’ own SIM-only plans can easily run to €25 or €35 a month.
In real terms, moving from GoMo’s standard price to Lidl’s launch offer saves you €72 a year. Coming from a €30 plan with one of the big networks, you’d save just over €250.
Even at €12.99 after the first 100,000 sign-ups, Lidl Connect matches the cheapest standard price among the budget brands and beats them comfortably on roaming.
Supermarket mobile isn’t new here either. Tesco Mobile has been around for years on the Three network. What’s different this time is the price, and the fact that Lidl is tying the whole thing into its loyalty app.
The catch with Lidl Connect
The biggest trade-off is the Lidl Plus requirement. Your phone plan lives inside a supermarket loyalty app, and you need to keep that account active for as long as you’re a customer. Lidl Plus already knows a fair bit about your shopping habits, so if you’ve avoided the app on privacy grounds, this is a hard sell.
“For life” also needs a plain reading. Price-for-life deals in Ireland generally only apply for as long as you stay on the plan you signed up to, so cancelling and rejoining once the first 100,000 places are gone will likely mean paying €12.99.
So should you switch? If you’re paying €20 or more for a SIM-only plan and Eir coverage is decent where you are, this is about the easiest saving you’ll make all year, and fair play to Lidl for coming in at a price that should force the rest of the market to take a hard look at itself. If you’re already on a €12.99 deal with GoMo, 48 or Clear Mobile, the €4 a month saving is smaller, but the bigger roaming allowance could tip it for regular travellers.
Lidl Connect launches on Monday 5 October through the Lidl Plus app, with physical SIMs available in Lidl stores nationwide for 99c.
