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| Mr Meza. |
The monthly volume of money transacted on by Vodacom Tanzania through
its M-Pesa service has reached 1trn/-, the company said in Dar es Salaam over
the weekend.
Vodacom Tanzania, which boasts as the largest tele-service provider in
the country, describes M-commerce as the fastest growing area of telecoms operations
that has become an industry of its own within the industry.
Vodacom Managing Director Rene Meza said his firm has grown
exponentially in M-commerce, which he termed as an ecosystem, most preferred
way of financial transactions.
"It is a growing ecosystem which is now a preferred way of paying
bills, salaries, savings, conducting international money transfers through
banks and western union.
"And very soon, it will be used to withdraw money at the ATMs. It
has also enabled the transfer of money from one's account to M-Pesa and vice
versa" Mr Meza told the 'Daily News' in an interview.
The MD said although Tanzania has not yet reached the level of its
neighbour, Kenya but Dar es Salaam was moving fast.
"We shall beat Kenya within a short time," said Mr Meza, a
recent appointee to the top office of Vodacom Tanzania, adding that the idea is
to double the number of M-Pesa agents from the current 25,000 in the next six
months.
"The good side of this business is that businesses want to be
agents, as they have realised that there is the potential of making good
returns - this will help to increase numbers of agents without
difficulty," he said.
Under Voda's M-pesa, there are currently nine million customers out of
the country's estimated population of 45 million, indicating high unutilised
potential.
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"We are however still dealing with challenges of education and
trust," said Mr Meza, adding that Vodacom does a lot of educational
campaign on M- commerce's services to improve the public understanding and
adoption.
The firm also is striving to build trust because there are still
numerous concern over whether M-Pesa is safe and secure way of sending money.
The bank of Tanzania is currently working on regulations to ensure that
e-money issuers and payment service providers conduct their businesses
prudently and in accordance with the prerequisites of the relevant legal
provisions.
Last year, due to increase usage of mobile phone cash transfer, Bank of
Tanzania and Tanzania Communication Regulatory Authority (TCRA) partnered to
control the system to safeguard users.
Four mobile network operators - Vodacom, Airtel, Tigo and Zantel - are
currently offering the mobile payment services. The service provision however
requires that the phone companies partner with commercial banks.
Source: The Daily News,http://www.dailynews.co.tz
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