Telecel Zimbabwe this week launched its mobile money transfer service, telecash, which allows subscribers to use mobile phones to send money to anyone on any network, pay bills and pay for groceries and other goods and services.
Announcing the launch of telecash at a Press conference at Telecel’s head office, Telecel Zimbabwe chief commercial officer Ashraf El Guindy said Telecel was coming to the market with a strong product.
He said the company had partnered with some of the best players in the industry to come up with telecash.
“We have associated ourselves with the best in the industry,” he said, adding that Telecel’s technical partner for telecash was Obopay and that its banking partners included Afrasia, CBZ and ZimSwitch, which provides links with most of the country’s banking institutions.
Telecel Zimbabwe mobile financial services director Nkosinathi Ncube said Telecel had taken its time to launch telecash in order to come to the market with a mobile financial service that was more developed, enhanced and relevant than other mobile financial services.
He said some of the strong features of telecash were its interoperability, which enabled subscribers to send money to any other network and to banks, its financial inclusivity, its simplicity and ease of use and its bulk payment facility, which made it possible for bulk payments, such as salary payments, to be made from the comfort of one’s office.
Another strong feature was its affordability. “Everybody will be able to afford it,” he said.
Telecash was being launched with more than 1 600 agents already registered throughout the country, Ncube added.
“In terms of coverage, we have focused on where people are. Our network covers 85 percent of the country’s population. All those people will be able to access telecash,” he said.
Ncube said both the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe and the Posts and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (Potraz) had called for the interoperability of mobile financial services with banks. Telecash was the first mobile financial service to achieve this.
“Telecash is the first to connect with Zimswitch and thus with all banks on the platform. So many people are not banked and we are looking at enhancing the life of someone who was unbanked,” he continued.
Staff Writer
