Zimbabwe’s largest mobile phone company, Econet Wireless, has unveiled an offering for its mobile money service EcoCash that allows a cell phone to operate as a virtual debit card.
Econet Wireless, in a statement, claims the functionality is a “first in the world and in Africa.”
Econet says that instead of carrying a plastic card, an EcoCash user could instead "swipe" their handset when paying through a credit card terminal.
The terminals work on the Econet network and are completely wireless. At points of sale, customers initiates a "pay merchant" transaction from their EcoCash Wallet on their phone. Econet explains that customers then enter the merchant number and amount, and the EcoCash Terminal prints out a merchant copy to be signed by the customer and to keep for their records.
This could mean that over two million Zimbabweans who are currently users of EcoCash also have a debit card on their phones, says Econet Wireless services chief executive Darlington Mandivenga.
Econet says that a team of software developers, working at the London offices of another Econet company called TPS, developed the software.
Econet has already started rolling out 10,000 terminals across the country that will not only accept the EcoCash debit card, but also any of the traditional credit cards such as American Express, Visa, MasterCard, including those issued by local banks, says Mandivenga.
Mandivenga says Econet plans to have every store in the country, including rural areas, equipped with an 'EcoCash Terminal'. The company says it plans not to sell the terminals, as they cost nearly $500 each. But the firm does plan to lease them to participating stores and merchants.
Mandivenga says Econet will allow any bank in Zimbabwe which is integrated to its EcoCash network to also issue its own cards and use the terminals.
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