Econet announced yesterday via an SMS to subscribers that residence of Harare can now pay their council bills (rates and water) using EcoCash as more practical use of the mobile money service are rolled out. Effectively, this means Harare residents who use EcoCash no longer need to make a trip to the nearest council office just to pay their bills; it can all be done on a basic mobile phone.
Paying a council bill via EcoCash is not new itself as Bulawayo residents have been using EcoCash for at least a couple of months. As well, paying a city council bill electronically is not new; a couple of banks locally already provide this via their internet banking services. Like most things EcoCash though, the big difference is scale and therefore potential impact on ordinary Zimbabweans. EcoCash has more than 2 million subscribers.
As more possible EcoCash uses for subscribers are rolled out, the EcoCash ecosystem is feeding itself. If people can use EcoCash for more things than before, the collective convenience becomes ever more compelling and this drives more sign ups. Existing subscribers are also likely to start keeping money in their virtual wallets where before, money would be cashed into a wallet in transit to a recipient wallet, where it would be cashed out on arrival.
If there’s a water bill to pay at the end of the month, a DSTV subscription, discounted airtime to buy, groceries to buy, then it would just make sense to get paid right into the wallet and spend from there. It’s surely more secure than the mattress account. And as more banks threaten to sink, pulling their industry back several years to an unhelpful image of greedy corporate money holes insensitive to the plight of ordinary people, EcoCash as a default money storage account is an ever real option to consider.
7 comments
ha! dead giveaway! banks in trouble… kuchasara maCoporate clients chete
Awesome development Econet….real solutions that work.
Teach these greedy banks howk things are done in the modern IT world…
I hope the lady that served me this morning at some mbank is reading this. I’m an entrepreneur and yes I need banks but maybe its time most banks took all their staff for a refresher on customer care and remind them where their salaries come from. Why should I feel like I’m begging for money when ever I walk into some of these institutions, why are their phone calls a priority over me, why should I be expected to now all their stupid procedures like I work with them, why should they serve their friends ahead of me right there in the open. I’m reeeeeally sick of these guys
[…] With ubiquitous payment alternatives like mobile money such a feature should be standard. After all, the City of Harare has, in the past, entertained the integration of mobile money payments for rates through services like EcoCash. […]
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