Competition for a share of the lucrative mobile money transfer business is set to move a notch higher, after Equity Bank this morning launched a money service that links with Airtel.
Equitel joins join a list of mobile money providers in Kenya: Airtel, Orange Money provided by Orange Telkom and M-Pesa operated by Safaricom. Equity bank has been in the corridors of justice fighting a series of battles that had been lodged to stop it from launching its t the thin SIM technology.
The lender, through its subsidiary Finserve Africa Limited, has been piloting the Thin SIM technology in Kenya, using its Equitel brand.The Thin SIM technology is expected to address the typical Kenyan subscriber’s low tendency to switch providers due to the utility of value-added services such as mobile money.
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Many Kenyans can only afford a single-SIM mobile phone, which they use as a primary line. The slim SIM card is a 0.1mm-thick film that is placed on a subscriber’s original SIM card, effectively turning the device into a dual-SIM phone.
The Communications Authority of Kenya and the Central Bank of Kenya have given Equitel the go ahead to use this technology. Parliamentary watchdog as well as court cases, obstacles that Equity is convinced is being stage-managed by the competition. Platform, a move that is likely stir the market.
Also, Equity Bank has capped the cost of withdrawing any amount at Sh25. Equitel’s entry could therefore set the stage for an intense price war in the mobile money transfer business with consumers standing to be the biggest winners. (Standard)
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