TTCL seeks share of Sh50tr business in money transfer

TTCL chief executive officer, Mr Waziri Kindamba

What you need to know:

The Bank of Tanzania (BoT) said in its May 2017 economic review that a total of 1,444.6 million transactions valued at Sh49.997 trillion were transacted in mobile money transfer in the country during the period between July 2016 and April 2017.

Dar es Salaam. Tanzania Telecommunications Company Limited (TTCL) yesterday officially introduced its money transfer service as it seeks to get a share of the Sh50 trillion that is circulating through mobile phones.

The Bank of Tanzania (BoT) said in its May 2017 economic review that a total of 1,444.6 million transactions valued at Sh49.997 trillion were transacted in mobile money transfer in the country during the period between July 2016 and April 2017.

The amount was 13.9 per cent more than Sh43.868 trillion that was transacted via 1,217.7 million transactions between July 2015 and April 1016.

Going by Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) figures, there were 19.227 million mobile phone accounts in the country as of March 2017, with Vodacom’s M-Pesa, Tigo’s Tigo Pesa and Airtel’s Airtel Money accounting for 7.97 million, 6 million and 4.9 million accounts respectively.

But the state-owned TTCL, which had 338,486 subscribers as of March 2017, however says through its TTCL Pesa, it will bring the ‘most affordable rates’ to beat competitors.

“Our mobile money transfer services will be cheap as customers will save between 10 and 50 per cent of what they currently spend on making such transactions,” the company’s chief executive officer, Mr Waziri Kindamba, said.

He said TTCL had undergone through challenges during the past years, with its partnership with Bharti Airtel only ending after the government acquired the latter’s shares after injecting Sh14.9 billion into the company.

“Against that background, all is now set for us to provide quality service that will increase the number of our customers,” he said, calling upon the government to consider injecting a Sh600 billion in capital. According to TTCL board chairman Omari Nundu, the goal is to ensure that the company rebounds and starts operating profitably.

“TTCL Pesa is just one of the products that we plan to bring,” he said.