The Citizen Reporter
Dar es Salaam. Zantel Tanzania has re-branded its Z-Pesa service, a mobile payment service, in a bid to offer better services and withstand competition in the market.Re-launching the service in the city on Wednesday Zantel CEO Ali Bin Jarsh said the new payment service, to be known as Ezy Pesa, has been upgraded and comes with new payment services including enabling employers to pay salaries using the service.
The mobile payment service also offers a micro insurance option that allows customers to purchase daily or monthly insurance premiums that cover them for accidental death and/or permanent disability due to accidents.
With a daily premium of Sh150 and a monthly premium of Sh4,500 a policy holder is covered for up to Sh3 million. The insurance service, known as Farijika insurance, is provided in partnership with the National Insurance Corporation Tanzania Limited.
Customers can also access their CRDB bank accounts using mobile phones.
“In 2008 Zantel was the first mobile network provider in the country to introduce mobile payment services. Our vision for this product has not changed but we have worked to improve it so it serves you better,” Bin Jarsh said.
The company has decided to re-launch its payment service because of the underperformance of Z-Pesa. Despite being the first payment service, it did not do well, outperformed by new comers. In all four years of its presence Z-Pesa had 23,000 registered customers but only about 500 active customers. With the new service, Zantel plans to process about 1000 in the next few weeks with a target of one million customers by the end of this year.
Mobile phone payment service is taking Tanzania by storm as all the major mobile phone firms offer it. M-Pesa of Vodacom Tanzania, Tigo Pesa by MIC Tanzania, Airtel Money by Airtel Tanzania and now Ezy Pesa by Zantel are competing.
