Telecommunications giant NetOne which recently announced a zero transaction charge promotion on every transaction by its customers and was set to run until December 31, has extended the promotion to end of March 2020, 263Chat can reveal.
Their customers have to pay the two percent government tax only for any transaction during this period.
Given that society has become reliant on mobile financial services for ease of transactions and payment solutions, the announcement has brought joy and relief to Zimbabweans who have been finding it difficult to access hard cash.
The bold move by NetOne rides on the Postal and Telecommunication Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ)’s abridged third quarter report for 2019 which revealed that OneMoney grew by 27 percent from 335, 132 active mobile subscriptions to 428,529.
The gain represented the overall growth in active mobile subscriptions and was solely attributed to OneMoney.
As a network, NetOne’s active mobile subscriptions grew by 10.6 percent from 2,752,458 to 3,042,930 signifying a total gain of 1.4 percent of the market share in Zimbabwe.
According to NetOne chief executive officer Lazarus Muchenje, the move is meant to cushion their customers from ever escalating transaction charges.
“In the past month, we have registered 19 000 agents, 11 000 merchants and managed to grow our cash in value by 6000 percent from these agents,” dais Muchenje.
He added; “We have introduced a merchant product called P2P merchant. This product is very popular with small and medium scale merchants as it provides a merchant with a virtual POS or swipe service.”
The adoption of mobile money has been continuously improving as a convenient alternative to making payments given the cash shortages the country is facing. One Money boasts of a host of payment solutions, short-term loans (Tsaona), agent lines, merchant codes, cardless merchant purchases, biller codes and availability on the ZimSwitch platform (Zip-It), enhanced by a ZimSwitch enabled debit card. All the services are available through dialing *111#.
Muchenje added that NetOne spent the year 2019 focusing on enhanced service provision through a stable quality network and a robust distribution channel, which includes 36 NetOne shops, 1000 franchise shops and over 5,000 Agents, who are equipped to register and activate all NetOne lines and OneMoney accounts.
The improved accessibility of NetOne products and services, has resulted in a host of benefits for Zimbabweans, whilst promoting employment creation for all.
“To help usher in the year 2020, NetOne has extend the zero-tariff promotion on One Money, until March 2020, as a means of cushioning the transacting public to pay school fees, make payments, send and receive money. We will continue with our mission to transform and develop lives through communication solutions, as we complement government efforts towards Vision 2030 – an upper middle class economy,” he said.
Speaking to this publication, one NetOne customer Chipo Mupaya said the extension on the deadline was good news to all NetOne customers.
“I crossed over to NetOne and have never looked back. The service is amazing and the convenience is supported by friendly staff and a 24-hour call centre. I am able to sell myself airtime at a 10% discount using One Money and now that they have extended the reduced charges, I can continue to save a little every time I transact.” She said
