Ratepayers in Zimbabwean capital Harare can now pay their city council bills using mobile money service Telecash.

This is according to the country’s second largest mobile operator Telecel, which says it has struck an agreement with the city regarding money transfer service ‘Telecash’.

“Harare ratepayers will no longer have to make a trip to the Harare City Council every month to pay their bills. Bill payments can be made using their cellphone, at any time and from anywhere they may be,” said Telecel Zimbabwe mobile financial services director Nkosinathi Ncube.

“We hope this will not only be convenient for customers but also help ease congestion at the council offices,” he added.

Telecel says ratepayers using Telecash can dial *888#, a short code used to access the Telecash menu, and then select the ‘pay bill’ option.

A list of service providers will then be displayed on screen where they can select City of Harare as a service provider to be paid. No biller code is required, says Telecel.

The subscriber performing the transaction will then be asked to enter the account number on the City of Harare bill and the amount to be paid. The subscriber will be asked to enter his or her personal identification number (PIN).

Once payment has been made, the subscriber will receive a unique transaction ID that can be quoted, like a receipt number, in the event of any query, says Telecel.

Telecel also announced last week that subscribers of pay-TV service DStv can settle their monthly bills using the mobile money service.

Telecash was launched earlier this year to compete against Econet’s EcoCash mobile money service, which has notched up over three million users.