ZIMBABWE:Nettcash expands footprint

NettCash will start processing remittances on Monday as it moves to expand its footprint in the mobile money service.

NettCash chief executive officer Darlington Kutenha said the addition to its range of services followed the licencing of the company to do both inward and outward remittances by the Reserve Bank.

“Remittances are starting on August 3 and our partner is Moneygram,” Kutenha said.

The company is owned by Farai Mobi Trust, Tonderai Trust and Mozido.

Kutenha said the partnership with Mozido would ensure that the company “remains strong against a huge storm and we will conquer that storm”.

Econet’s mobile money service, EcoCash, leads the way in the mobile money business riding on its first-move advantage.

NetOne and Telecel run One Wallet and Telecash respectively riding on their infrastructure backbone.

Kutenha said Mozido were bringing in resources “which we didn’t have”.

“They have the financial resources which is a catalyst for growth,” he said.

Mozido is the largest payments company in South America with a balance sheet in excess of $5 billion and throughput of over
$20 billion.

Kutenha said the company would work with NMB and CABS “to ensure that the customer has comfort that the money is safe”.

Discussions were currently underway with banks to enable transfers from the bank account to the wallet.

The service is anchored on near sound data transfer which uses the mobile phones audio channel to transmit secure information used to electronically sign transactions.

“These factors are a game-changer to us,” Kutenha said.

Kutenha said NettCash was the only company which was independent of any mobile networks allowing subscribers to receive money across all networks. There were three types of mobile money which were bank-led, mobile network operator-driven and independent model.

NettCash began its service in January and has so far registered over 500 000 subscribers. It has over 3 000 agents countrywide. Subscribers can do bill payments, buy airtime and transfer money.

SOURCE:NEWSDAY