Fortumo expands into Algeria, Ghana and Tanzania

The mobile payments company Fortumo announced today that it has expanding its carrier billing services to 3 new African markets. More than 79 million mobile phone owners in Algeria, Ghana and Tanzania can now make payments for digital services.

“Africa’s digital ecosystem is quickly growing and we are seeing strong interest from international merchants who want to expand their activities there. While each day a large amount of new smartphone owners are coming online, collecting payments from these users has so far been a challenge. Our expansion in Africa gives locals better access to digital mobile services such as games, music, and video while helping merchants generate additional revenue from the region,” said Gerri Kodres, Chief Business Officer at Fortumo.

Fortumo services app stores including Google Play, digital media providers including Spotify, Sony, HOOQ, Gaana and gaming companies like EA Mobile, Gameloft and Kinguin with carrier billing, local market insights and facilitates relationships with mobile operators.

All three markets where Fortumo has launched have extremely low credit card penetration: Algeria at 6%, Ghana at 0.9% and Tanzania at 0.7%. This means while people can access online content, most of them are unable to make payments for paid features of these services.

Carrier billing solves this problem by allowing any mobile owner to make payments conveniently through their carrier and either deduct payments from their airtime balance or charge them to their monthly phone bill. Additional information on Africa’s digital ecosystem can be found from Fortumo’s recent market report.

In the Middle Eastern and African region, carrier billing through Fortumo is now available to more than 600 million people in 24 countries. Globally, over 3.5 billion people in 97 countries can make payments using their mobile phone with merchants who have integrated Fortumo.

Source: itnewsafrica

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Why Is East Africa A Global Leader In Mobile Remittances?

East Africa has established itself as a global leader in mobile remittances, and TerraPay is the latest mobile payments platform to enter the crowded space with its launch in Tanzania.

The global company has obtained regulatory approval to launch international money transfer services to mobile wallets in Tanzania.

There are good reasons why companies are flocking to the region. There are huge opportunities in Africa’s mobile remittance segment due to a large number of people living and working abroad who send money home for investment and family support.

“There is also the opportunity created by intra-Africa businesses that require money transfer from one African country to another,” says Danson Njue, an analyst at Ovum. “The continent has a relatively high mobile penetration rate and a developed mobile money service platform which supports the growth of the mobile remittance sector.”

Experts say Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe are challenging Kenyan operators for dominance of the sector. More and more players are entering the mobile remittances space, with Tigo launching an international remittance service and South African company Mama Money expanding to Tanzania earlier this year, IT Web Africa reported:

There is also interoperability between customers of MTN Mobile Money and Vodacom’s M-Pesa, with the arrival of TerraPay, which is part of the Mahindra Comviva group and provides interoperability engines – a further development.

The regulatory approval means Tanzania is now part of the TerraPay global network, which will allow partners from across the world to send money to mobile wallets in the country. Tanzanian diaspora in the U.K., France, Italy, Canada, U.S., South Africa and elsewhere can send remittances directly to Vodacom M-Pesa, Tigo Pesa, Airtel Money and Zantel Ezy Pesa Mobile Money accounts by visiting a participating TerraPay store.

In 2015, the World Bank reported remittances to Africa reached US$35 billion, excluding the amount transferred through informal channels. Mobile methods of sending money are vital due to the high cost of sending remittances in Africa via formal channels — between 8 percent and 20 percent of each transaction.

Since Kenya’s launch of M-Pesa a decade ago, East Africa has set itself up as a leader in mobile money. Aside from mobile money operators, global firms like WorldRemit and TerraPay see the region as a major base.

WorldRemit tracks the development of the sector back to the launch of M-Pesa. Recent figures released by the money transfer company show that the Kenyan diaspora is the biggest sender of digital remittances to mobile accounts.

Transfers to mobile money accounts make up 93 percent of WorldRemit’s transactions to Kenya, proving that Kenyans continue to be early adopters of innovative technology, even when abroad.

In January 2017 alone, WorldRemit customers transferred more than US$140 million to Kenya, while Kenyan internal remittances reached a record US$161 million in November 2016, making remittances one of the nation’s top earners.

But it is not just Kenya. East African countries including Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda are also leaders in this space and have competitive markets.

Lehlohonolo Mokenela, an industry analyst at Frost & Sullivan, says East Africa and South Asia are reporting high growth in the volume of mobile money-based remittances.

“The affinity for mobile wallets in East African markets such as Kenya and Tanzania is expected to enable the growth of international remittances in the region, Mokenela said. “Service providers such as TerraPay are already looking to enable the development of this market in different parts of the continent.”

Making different mobile transfer services interoperable in different countries is a vital next step for the development of the market. Again, East Africa is leading in this, with Tanzania in particular making major steps forward, but there is more to be done.

“Interoperability is expected to overcome challenges to scale and facilitate micro-transfers across borders, a common theme for Africa’s low-income population,” Mokenela said. “The challenge for the market however, lies in the navigating the regulatory hurdles from one country to the next.”

Njue said there is evidence of increased adoption of mobile money interoperability by service providers to support cross-border and cross-network transfers and grow the sector.

“The need for interoperability is to support mobile remittances and also grow service usage among users. In addition to increasing mobile money usage, interoperability has the potential to unlock the intra-Africa mobile remittance sector which has not had much focus in the past and which holds the key to promoting cross-border trade,” he said.

He said he expected to see some consolidation in the market given how many different companies have entered the space.

“In my opinion, market consolidations may be inevitable in some markets where we have so many operators. However, partnerships will feature most as service providers seek to tap into the opportunities in the sector,” said Njue

Source:afkinsider

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Vodacom Tanzania M-Pesa Innovation Forum

Vodacom Tanzania organized the M-Pesa Innovation Forum, the platform for Tanzania technology innovators and entrepreneurs to meet with the M-Pesa team to explore the opportunities that comes with the product and how the innovators can make the most it.

The forum was organized by the M-Pesa Tanzania technical and business team whereby they provided opportunities for technology innovators to ask random questions about the challenges they get when it comes to trying to innovate around the product. The biggest question was, when will the API be readily available for developers to integrate different payment systems with M-Pesa platforms ?

M-Pesa Tanzania is the second largest mobile payment system in the world after Safaricom which  has more than 7 million active subscribers and more than 30,000 merchants all over the country. It is the largest mobile payments service provider in the country. Currently they are connected to almost 500 businesses and have working partnerships with 30 commercial banks in Tanzania. The company has 85,000 M-Pesa agents networks nationwide. This is what the Tanzania innovators and technology entrepreneurs are looking to tap into. They are looking to get into the value chain of the business which contributes to 37.5 percent of Tanzania’s GDP.

As the forum went on, most of the developers in the room were waiting for one thing, the link for the API so as to access it. That, unfortunately was not the case, as the Vodacom team was keen to explain about the API not just in the technical perspective but in both business and regulators perspectives. From the team the issues was not just to be able to access the API and be able to configure it with your product or service but rather to understand the business viability of your product first and what does the regulators (Central Bank) say about it.

Mr. Tulisindo Rashid, M-Commerce Solutions Architect Manager explained their new updated Consumer to Business (C2B) platform which allows more flexibility. For example, in the new API, money is not deducted until the service has been delivered hence cutting down customer complaints to a large extent. He also explained that the API can be integrated with different platforms to allow users to do their payments directly using their M-Pesa accounts, for example the API can be integrated with School Management Systems and allow parents to pay directly into the collection account of the platform.

There were 90 minutes of a technical session where the head of technology of Vodacom Tanzania,  explained to the developers about the API and how they can integrate it with their platforms. The session was followed by a number of technical questions from the developers who attended the session. The head of technology of Vodacom insisted that, the priority for Vodacom is reliability and security when it comes to integrating with any external systems, hence developers should make sure they invest time to work on that before dropping by Vodacom’s office looking to get connected.

Finally the moment everyone was waiting for, Vodacom provided the procedure on how someone can access their API and start to do business with them. The business team provided a few simple steps on how someone can register and become their partner. These steps include:

• Sending them emails to m-pesabusiness@vodacom.co.tz for enquiries
• Providing your company registration documents
• They will send you a Bank Indemnity form
• You return the form with your company registration documents
• If everything goes well you sign the contract with Vodacom Tanzania, and lastly;
• The Service Level Agreement (SLA) and you are set to work with M-Pesa.

The M-Pesa Tanzania Product Manager, Mr. Polycarp Ndekana provided further explanations about having some challenges with regulation issues to some of the business models, which is outside Vodacom’s jurisdiction since it is being set by the Central Bank of Tanzania.

Vodacom also explained their new hosting solution – Vodacom cloud for companies that are looking to host through them. According to the service lead, the service is a new service and it is still at a preliminary stage. More information will be available in the near future.

Is this the new chapter we were looking  for? The answer is yes, the ecosystem needs this kind of collaboration between the corporate world and the innovators in the ecosystem, and Vodacom has just shown how it is done. We are expecting other MNOs to do the same. New innovations in the mobile industry will not come from their locked office doors but rather will come from young talented innovators available from the innovation spaces and tech startups companies where the urge to innovate is high compared to the big companies. They might not be able to replace the R&D departments but for sure they will bring the desired innovations.

Source: Knowcache

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Impact of mobile money interoperability in Tanzania

Tanzania is one of the most developed mobile money markets in the world, representing almost a third of all of East Africa’s active mobile money accounts in 2015. [1] It is also one of the most progressive, with ambitious initiatives regularly leading to new product innovation. Today, we are releasing a publication looking at the impact of one form of innovation coming out of Tanzania: the impact of account-to-account mobile money interoperability.

With Tigo, Airtel and Zantel having connected their services in 2014 and Vodacom integrating in 2016, account-to-account interoperability is still in early days in Tanzania. As such, this publication focuses on preliminary quantitative metrics alongside perspectives and reflections written by the service providers. The basic quantitative data offers a glimpse of initial customer behaviours and allows us to benchmark growth against a comparative use case, the off-net voucher. The latter half of the publication focuses entirely on the perspectives of the providers. These perspectives are critical because the experience of these players will inform both how Tanzania develops and how other practitioners evaluate the opportunity of interoperability in their own markets.

Between the data and the providers, Tanzania has provided more evidence to help all industry stakeholders develop more realistic expectations of and a better understanding for account-to-account interoperability.  For example:

• Basic market prerequisites in Tanzania provided the right dynamic for early growth. Growth in Tanzania is promising, particularly given providers have taken a “wait and see” approach in the early days. For Airtel and Tigo, cross-net transactions now exceed off-net vouchers, and both cite double-digit monthly percentage growth. To capture this early organic growth, providers benefitted from (1) an enabling regulatory environment that encourages innovation, (2) strong operational foundations across all providers and (3) a commitment to the user experience, including honouring a consistent price for all P2P transfers – whether on-net or cross-net. Markets lacking these basic prerequisites may risk a harder road before reaping the benefits that interoperability can enable.

• Interoperability between providers can also be a catalyst for further investment in industry collaboration. There is a healthy diversity of perspectives and expectations from providers around the implementation and impact of domestic interoperability. However, what is clear is that the launch of this singular form of interoperability is part of, and in some cases reinforced by, an on-going strategy to capture the benefits of broader industry collaboration. Millicom, Vodacom and Airtel all explicitly expressed an interest to build on their experience and potentially extend interoperability to new use cases, such as merchant payments.

• The impact of interoperability is best measured over the long-term. Mobile money interoperability has further to go in Tanzania before it is close to the transaction volume processed through bank integrations or on-net P2P transfers. To accelerate that growth, the industry continues to explore how improvements to the technological and financial infrastructure could make mobile money interoperability more efficient. New investment in customer campaigns are also underway, and these investments will help evaluate the long-term growth ceiling and the extent of mass-market need for the functionality.
• Source: gsma

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Tanzania: Vodacom M-Pawa Loans Reach 4.2 Billion/ - in May

Over 4.2bn/- in loans was disbursed to Vodacom subscribers last month through M-Pawa thus becoming an important tool of boosting entrepreneurship among women and youth.

Vodacom Tanzania Chief Officer M-Commerce Mr Sitoyo Lopokoiyit said M-Pawa was increasingly being heralded as the tool for bringing financial services to the large unbanked population in Tanzania.

"In just two years since its launch, M-Pawa subscribers have skyrocketed to 4.8 million. Todate, 39bn/- have been issued to subscribers through M-Power and most of them are entrepreneurs mostly women and youth to increase income," he said.

Prior to introduction of various mobile financial solutions, the unbanked population relied on cash or informal financial services which were typically unsafe, inconvenient and denied them the opportunity to access loans.

The high penetration of mobile phones in Tanzania provided the basis for extending access to financial services such as payments, transfers, insurance, savings, and credit.

Thus Vodacom Tanzania in partnership with CBA bank introduced M-Pawa -- the first- ever mobile savings and loan service in Tanzania - a service that has proven to be a saviour to millions of its subscribers.

The introduction of Vodacom's M-Pawa was made possible in partnership with the Commercial Bank of Africa (CBA), following studies showing that there are millions of Tanzanians especially in rural areas who do not have bank accounts mostly due to the absence of banking institutions or lack of the requisite monies to open up a bank account.

Source:All africa

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Tanzania in mobile money ‘first’ for Africa

Vodacom joined Tigo, Airtel and Zantel in a pioneering interoperability scheme for mobile money in Tanzania.

In 2014, Tigo, Airtel and Zantel agreed to enable their customers to send and receive money across their networks. After announcing it would join last year, Vodacom has now implemented the scheme.

Tanzania becomes Africa’s first country with full interoperability for P2P money transfers, according to a statement issued by three of the operators.

Interoperability means more traffic and hence revenue, at least that’s the argument of Tigo, Airtel and Zantel, which have seen off-network transactions grow 3.5 times since 2014.

Tanzania, like neighbouring Kenya, is a case study for mobile money with high usage levels. There are more than 16 million mobile financial users in Tanzania.

Source:mobileworldlive

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Ghana becomes a force in mobile money

Some 17 percent of Ghana's 27.3 million citizens now have a mobile money account, according to a new report from the World Bank. That figure is double from 2014, according to the report.

The report concluded that Ghana is fertile ground for more mobile money account openings as 92 percent of adults have the required ID necessary to open an account and 91 percent of Ghanaians already own a mobile phone.

The World Bank said Ghana has greater potential for mobile money than Kenya and Tanzania, which are considered two of the most successful markets in the world.

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Qatar Airways takes off with M-Pesa

Qatar Airways, the national airline of the State of Qatar, has entered into a strategic partnership with one of the world's leading mobile money service providers, Vodacom, to launch a service that enables customers to pay for airfare with the M-Pesa service.

Travellers can book flights either online or at travel agents and use M-Pesa as a payment option, according to a press release.

"We are proud to be associated with Qatar Airways, one of the world's leading airlines," Vodacom Tanzania's Acting Managing Director Nina Pendaeli Eshun said in a statement. "Our goal is to remain relevant and responsive to market needs at all times. M-Pesa is about reach, access and convenience. That is why Vodacom customers travelling on Qatar airways can now purchase their tickets anytime and anywhere at the mere click of a button."

In order to pay, customers  go to the M-Pesa pay bill option, enter Qatar Airways' business number and insert their booking reference number and the amount quoted at time of the booking. Upon receipt of payment, the customer will receive an SMS confirmation and the e-ticket via email. The ticket may also be collected at Qatar Airways reservations or their airport office, according to the announcment.

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MoneyGram, Vodacom partner on mobile money service in Tanzania

MoneyGram and Vodacom have announced a partnership that enables Vodacom subscribers in Tanzania to receive fund transfers directly into their M-Pesa accounts through MoneyGram's money transfer services.

M-Pesa subscribers in Tanzania can receive funds from MoneyGram into their mobile accounts from customers in more than 120 countries at any time, subject to system availability, according to a press release.

"MoneyGram continues to grow throughout Africa as a result of forming strategic relationships with mobile network operators, banks, post offices and retailers, to bring added convenience to our customers," Jacques Voogt, chief officer of mobile commerce at Vodacom Tanzania, said in a statement. "Presently, MoneyGram operates in more than 200 countries with a network of more than 350,000 locations globally of which 25,000 are in Africa."

Source:mobilepaymentstoday

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Sending money to Kenya ... M-Pesa it!

Over 7 million M-Pesa customers in Tanzania and over 18 million Safaricom customers in Kenya can now send and receive money from each other. This revolutionary service allows for mobile wallet to wallet transfers between the two largest telecom operators in East Africa. Now, customers can transfer funds across the border at the same rate as sending money locally.

Speaking in Dar es Salaam, Vodacom Tanzania’s Managing Director said available statistics indicate that over TZS 200 billion is sent from Tanzania to Kenya annually, while the latter sends over 26 billion to Tanzania. "Statistics from the World Bank, (2013) indicate that Tanzania sent approximately TZS 200 billion to Kenya through formal channels. Estimates would indicate that more than twice that amount was transacted via informal channels including bus drivers, friends and family" stated Meza.

 

"We have looked into the hurdles that our customers need to overcome in order to send and receive money across to our neighbors in Kenya and have come up with a safe, secure and convenient way to do so. From today one doesn’t need to send money by  suka wa basi au konda or incur hefty charges to transfer school fees, buy goods or settle business payments,  he or she can do so directly from their M-Pesa wallet and… from the comfort of their home, anytime the need arises , "  says Meza.

For his part, Safaricom's Chief Operating Officer Bob Collymore said "We believe that we have launched a new chapter in the continuing growth story of M-Pesa Enabling transactions between Kenya and Tanzania will make it ever-more convenient for businesses and individuals to transact across borders and unleash the transformative power of a first of its kind cross-border payment system."

"Vodacom customers will from today be able to send and receive money to and from Kenya through the same process that they are already used to. Their experience is the same as that of sending money nationally, the only difference is that a customer can now choose option 3 - send money to M-Pesa Kenya- and enter the mobile number beginning with the +254…prefix,” added Meza. “Even before the money is sent, the customer will be shown the Kenyan Shillings equivalent value of the money that the customer in Kenya will receive. The currency conversion will happen immediately and the money will be available instantly for withdrawal or making bill payments, buying airtime or any other services on M-Pesa" he added.

M-Pesa is offered by Vodacom Tanzania Limited and Safaricom in Kenya – the region’s two biggest telecom operators. Vodacom has approximately 65% market share of mobile financial services in Tanzania whereas Safaricom commands over 80% share in Kenya. Meza further says, “Our combined distribution of over 150,000 agents in Tanzania and Kenya will ensure that our customers continue to enjoy the many benefits that M-Pesa offers them today. This groundbreaking service in the evolution of mobile financial services as we know it today is supported by a fully-fledged customer service unit that is reachable 24 hours every day.”

"Kenya is Tanzania’s largest trading partner and it was therefore logical that we activate the service there first. This is our own way of further cementing the ties that bind the people of the EAC region," says Meza. He goes on to say that communication is about connecting people and communities regardless of the geographical barriers that stand between them – something that Vodacom does only too well across the countries where it has a presence around the world.

Tanzania is home to approximately 300,000 Kenyans who remit funds to their home country via informal ways and channels including bus drivers, friends and family. There is also a sizeable part of the Tanzanian population that has chosen to educate their children in Kenya and rely on the very same means to transfer money. "This service will now empower a trader or a small business owner in Kariakoo or any other part of Tanzania to transact with his customers or suppliers in Kenya.  For the parents whose children go to school in Kenya, settlement of school fees has been simplified because of this service. Gone are the days that bus drivers, friends and family had to carry cash across the border to settle such dues For all Kenyans who reside in Tanzania today, M-Pesa now makes it easier for them to send and receive money home" added Meza.

"This service will also eradicate the need for people to carry large amounts of money in physical cash. For, it is CONVENIENT, SECURE and DIRECT and reaches the intended person INSTANTLY.  This is what Making Life Better is all about." says Meza.

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Vodacom and Tigo agree on mobile money interoperability

Millions of M-Pesa and Tigo Pesa customers in Tanzania will soon be able to send and receive money directly into each other’s wallets. This follows the recent signing of a mobile money interoperability agreement between Tigo and Vodacom.

The agreement announced today, will for the first time see four million Tigo Pesa users exchanging money directly with seven million M-Pesa customers. This is yet another tangible step towards the enhancement of financial inclusion in Tanzania as well as the expansion of the mobile money ecosystem in Tanzania. 

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) formulated the mobile-wallet-to wallet standards with support from Groupe Speciale Mobile Association (GSMA), (standards) which have been the basis of the interoperability discussions between mobile network operators in Tanzania.

Speaking at the signing ceremony in Dar es Salaam, Rene Meza, Vodacom Tanzania’s Managing Director said “This is a great evolution of the mobile money service in Tanzania. Our customers will soon be able to directly access the money received through Tigo Pesa and use it for whatever purposes they may have without necessarily having to cash it out.”

M-Pesa users can pay for an array of services from their phones. These include; TV subscriptions, Flights,  Insurance services, Utilities, Taxes, School fees, Pension Contributions  and Loans to name but a few.

In support of this, Meza says, "M-Pesa has added so much value to the lives of Tanzanians over the past seven years and the fact that this agreement with Tigo will see even more Tanzanians using our services to better their lives is indeed a major milestone.   We expect to launch the service by the end of the year and are currently working on upgrading our M-Pesa platform which will see us invest in excess of Tshs 150 billion/- to cater for the expected growth of users."

Meza went on to say that the agreement signed between the country’s two largest mobile operators’ networks would allow Vodacom’s M-Pesa users to directly send and receive money to an additional four million Tigo Pesa users across the country at no additional cost or inconvenience to them by the end of the year.

We are now working to ensure that we have both the technology and requisite resources needed to provide the quality of service that our customers have come to expect from us through the years…we are nevertheless excited about the opportunities posed by this new operating model. Our extensive agent network  which is over 85,000-strong as well as the enhancement of our M-Pesa service has  to date allowed our 7 million M-Pesa users  to be active players in the economy and we look forward to growing it even further. This is what making life better and financial inclusion is all about,” says Meza.

Source: Vodacom

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Vodacom overtakes mining, banking in tax contributions

Vodacom Tanzania paid a staggering Sh47.1 billion in Corporate Tax last year, meaning the country’s largest mobile phone company was among the most profitable corporations locally.

The company says it is so far the second largest taxpayer in the country, after Tanzania Breweries, although it did not state in its financial report unveiled yesterday the total taxes it paid in 2014.

To put things into simple perspective, what Vodacom paid last year as taxes is bigger than what the much-debated mining firms—Geita Gold Mine and Acacia Mining— remitted.

Corporate Tax (Corporation Tax) is a levy charged on the gross profit of entities such as limited companies, organisations, clubs, societies, associations and other unincorporated bodies. For firms that are not listed on the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange, the corporate tax rate is 30 per cent, signaling that Vodacom Tanzania may have made a gross profit of not less than Sh156 billion during the 2014 calendar year.

Going by Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) figures, Tanzania had a total of 30.58 million Subscriber Identification Module (Sim) cards as at September 2014. Vodacom was leading the pack with some 11.316 million Sim cards.

Without specifying the chief sources of profits within the various sub-categories of its operations, the company said yesterday it would spend Sh150 billion to finance its expansion and service improvement programme in 2015 as it seeks to grow further.

The money will be used in investment in 2G and 3G sites and improving its M-Pesa services as well as other innovations.

However, Vodacom bemoaned a tough environment resulting from a drop in prices of both data and voice services while taxes have been going up in recent years.

Vodacom Tanzania managing director Rene Meza said the price per minute dropped from Sh58 in January 2013 to Sh24 in January 2015—representing an almost 59 per cent decrease— while the price per megabyte decreased from Sh9 to Sh5 (45 per cent drop) in the same period.

On the other hand, he said, excise duty on airtime increased from 5 per cent in 2002 to 17 per cent in 2014, making it one of the highest in Africa.

“These low prices are posing a challenge on our ability to continue investing. In reality, where did you see for instance food prices dropping by over 50 per cent in one year,” said Mr Meza during a press briefing.

The firm reported a 45 per cent increase in voice calls while internet usage almost tripled between 2013 and 2015.

Source: thecitizen

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Tanzania's voice, data rates still low

Kenya, South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria and India charge more.

Tanzania enjoys one of the lowest voice rates per minute on the continent. The rate is comparatively low in contrast to Kenya at Tshs 80/-, Ghana Tshs 80.4/- and Nigeria Tsh 96/- per minute. Prior to the recent price increase, the blended average price of Tsh 23/- per minute was one of the the lowest in the world.  

Speaking in Dar es Salaam, Vodacom Tanzania’s Managing Director Rene Meza said his company has continually maintained low prices because it believes that access to communication services is a right that should be enjoyed by all and not a luxury.

Meza further said that 2014 was a great year for his company on many fronts and he would like to thank Vodacom customers for their continued loyalty and support…Customers made 45% more calls at significantly reduced rates. In addition to this, over 1.7 million Tanzanians chose Vodacom as their preferred communication services provider in 2014.

“Close to 50% of our customers use data today. This has in turn tripled internet usage on our network. We have more than 5.5 million customers who access the internet through their phones. The number of smart phone users on our network has grown by over 200% over the last year.  We now have over one million smartphones that are active on our network. We are therefore, a very active contributor to our country’s endeavor to create a knowledge based society.”

 

We need to invest in the enhancement of our network so as to continue to cater for the current and expected growth. We have several challenges that we face today…we are both a capital intensive industry and are very heavily taxed at 38.1%. This to an extent affects our ability to generate funds for reinvestment in the business. We were offering some of our products at below cost and are now realigning them so as to recoup some of our costs...,” he said.

 

“Vodacom offers a variety of very competitive products in the market. We have an array of very competitive packages that allow our customers to make calls, send SMS and browse the internet from as low as Tshs 500/- .  For Internet, Vodacom offers many options in daily, weekly, and monthly categories, to suit all customers’ needs. After the changes, Vodacom now charges Tshs 4.9/- per MB in a 5GB bundle, as compared to our  former price of  Tshs 3.9/- Per /MB for the same..  This is  still one of the lowest prices  per MB for the same product (5GB) within other key emerging markets - Nigeria charging Tshs 17/-, South Africa is Tshs 13/-, Kenya Tshs  12/-,  Ghana 7/- and India is at  T-shs 5/-, says Meza.

 

With regards to how his company was performing in other areas, Meza said M-Pesa users now stand over at 6 million and transact approximately Tshs 1.7 Trillion/- every month. “Our M-Pesa Wakala network has a national reach and is over 85,000 agent-strong. The phenomenal growth that we had in 2014 is reflected in our contribution to government revenue. We are now the 2nd largest payer in the country and the top in the telecoms sector,” he says.

 

“We invested Tshs 180 bn/- in our network in 2014 and this had a tremendous impact on our network as evidenced by the phenomenal growth that I mentioned earlier. Our 2015 planned  investment  of Tshs140 billion /- will therefore, cover 2G and 3G network expansion, Products and Services, IT Infrastructure as well as the enhancement of our M-Pesa service.  This is crucial to the financial inclusion agenda because we are committed to playing a part in enabling Tanzania achieve its targeted middle income by 2025,” said Meza.

 

On future growth, Meza said investment in the mobile communication services sector is capital intensive and continues to be hampered by, among other things, the existing energy infrastructure which requires telecom companies to connect most of their sites to generators running on fuel. Rural coverage despite the challenges that come with it, remains a priority for Vodacom Tanzania. “We believe this is where growth in the telecommunications industry will come from in the next decade. We have to date contributed in excess of the Tshs 4.5477bn/- to the Universal Communication Services Access Fund (UCSAF), “he says.

 

 In addition to UCSAF sites we have over 1300 sites in rural areas. All the regions and most districts in Tanzania now have 3 G coverage. “As smart phone user’s increase, so too will our 3 G footprint continue to expand across the country. Nevertheless, we continue to see a lot more whatsApp users in rural areas – a clear indication of the increasing uptake of technology in rural areas.”

Source:vodacom Tanzania

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VODACOM HAS LAUNCHED AN ONLINE PAYMENT SERVICE THROUGH VINJARI PLATFORM

M-Pesa, Vodacom Tanzania’s flagship has today launched an online payment service through the web-based platform of Vinjari which will allow local traders registered under Vinjari.co.tz to accept online payment for the purchase of services. The service allows travellers to book and pay for hotels, tour package and flights.

Vinjari.co.tz platform has over 300 hotels and partners around the country and we only serve the travel industry under its portfolio.  This launch is strategically in line with M-pesa online payments positioning and gearing up for the Festive‘Travel and shopping’ season.

Vodacom Tanzania’s Head of Corporate Affairs & Public Relations, Ms Rosalynn Mworia, said at the launch of this new service that the entry of M-pesa into the online space is a landmark move that will see more than a million M-pesa customers in the country gain access to the online shopping experience.

"The ability to conduct financial transaction using a mobile phone is now a vital part of life, for millions of Tanzanians. The entry of M-Pesa into the online space is a game changer that is bound to transform the conduct and uptake of online trade in Tanzania, this service is different from M-Pesa's current payment services that require users to use their mobile phones."Online traders will need an M-Pesa pay bill number” said Mworia.

Andrew Mboma, Managing Director said M-PESA online Payment through Vinjari provides customers a chance to purchase services online. Customers select the items they want to pay for and pay with M-PESA. The total cost for the items purchased online is deducted from the customer’s M-PESA account.

The customer only needs to key in their mobile number and they will receive a notification on their mobile phone to validate the transaction using their PIN. For more information on using this service visit vinjari.co.tz.

This online service will leverage the deep penetration of the mobile phone and the proliferation of Internet services to ease the shopping experience for customers while allowing merchants to match their goods and services directly to consumers. An estimated 28 million Tanzanians have mobile phones, while about 6 million have access to the internett

Source:Vodacom News

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Vodacom TZ in DITF Partnership with TanTrade

• Vodacom to conduct media coverage activities throughout the trade fair.
• The company recognised for its cheap and affordable services and products.

Tanzania’s leading telecommunications company, Vodacom TZ, has today entered into partnership with Tanzania Trade Development Authority (TanTrade) as the official communication sponsor in this year’s 36th Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair (DITF).

Vodacom TZ will be conducting pre, during and post media coverage activities throughout this 10-day trade fair, which is set to kick off on June 30.

This partnership comes at a time when communication has become a critical part of the average Tanzanian’s post Ujamaa life. Tanzanians are using cellular phones as a means of sharing ideas (both personal and professional), feelings and also bonding.

Vodacom TZ takes pride in this partnership for its role in the telecommunications industry in the country. The company has been recognised for going a step further in ensuring that consumers not only use cell phones for communication, but also as mobile banks.

“It is for this reason that we have brought Vodacom’s money transfer service, M-PESA, on board. This service is now a basic need to a normal Tanzanian for its numerous offers among then, bill payment, transferring cash from one person to another, noted Vodacom TZ Managing Director, Rene Meza.

Rene mentioned that Vodacom TZ is working tirelessly to offer cheap and affordable products and services to consumers across the country.

Basing with the recent developments, the Vodacom TZ has launched various youth campaigns among them the Wajanja campaign and Wajanja Internet, which offer cheap internet services to the youth, according to Rene.

Vodacom TZ has invested heavily on infrastructure development and improvement. Through this, the company aims to improve the quality of services and products offered to out consumers. This will ensure that these services and products are affordable especially to the young citizens of this country in order to gain more subscriptions and increase brand loyalty.

DITF, popularly dubbed as Saba Saba, is Tanzania’s leading trade fair and most significant trade marketing activity. The 10-day trade fair attracts more than 350 000 visitors and it is an optimal corporate and brand building event which provides an interactive medium for directly contacting existing and potential customer. It is also a platform for comparing related and competing products.

SOURCE:globalpublishers

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CRDB Bank upgrades SIM banking

IN a bid to provide efficient and secure services, CRDB Bank has further improved its SIM Banking to accommodate new features that give customers the conveniences to perform more transactions at any location in the world.

Mobile phones have clearly shown that they can be an effective channel to provide financial services including remittances, savings or even loans.

So, banks have an opportunity to utilise mobile phones to reach out to their customers. This was unveiled at the weekend by the CRDB Bank Managing Director, Dr Charles Kimei, at a news conference on improvement made on SIM Banking.

"CRDB Bank is always seeking to create easy and less cost accessibility to the banking services to its customers," he said, adding this is why the bank is incorporating its services with the fast changing mobile money technology which is the future of the banking sector.

Dr Kimei urged its customers to register with the SIM Banking established in 2008, which gives them best and different options of performing bank transactions at any location.

Currently, over 300,000 CRDB Bank customers are using SIM Banking in its database with over one million customers.

According to Finscope 2013 report, more than 30 million Tanzanians own or use mobile phone but only 12 million use the cellphones to perform money transactions.

Statistics reveal further that the bankable population is around 17 per cent of the 45 million total population. The data offers the banking sector with the huge opportunity to spread its services to the unbankable population in rural areas, thus complimenting the government initiative of financial inclusion.

The CRDB Manager Electronic Banking, Mr Mangire Kibanda, said the bank has simplified the SIM Banking registration where customers register for themselves without visiting the bank branches.

SIM Banking present customers with an easy, hassle-free and convenient way to pay your bills like electricity, water, and airtime. Some of the companies incorporated into the SIM Banking include Dawasco, Moruwasa and Startimes. Also, money transactions through M-PESA and TIGO-Pesa.

The CRDB Director of Risk and Compliance, Mr James Mabura, cautioned customers to avoid disclosing the bank account particulars to people or hackers, who present themselves as CRDB staff having an ill will to steal their money.

Also, he urged customers to keep secure their pin number which are used in performing ATM and mobile money transactions.

Source:Dailynews

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