Zimbabwe’s largest mobile operator Econet Wireless is revamping its EcoCash mobile money service to enable more payment services.
The company says to facilitate the revamping process users would experience problems until the end of this month as the system that supports the mobile money transfer platform gets an upgrade.
“Econet Wireless is undertaking a multi-million dollar expansion of its mobile money service, EcoCash, in response to its dramatic and unexpected growth since its launch in September 2011,” the company said in a statement.
Darlington Mandivenga, the chief executive officer for Econet services said the expansion of EcoCash would allow the company to launch new services on the EcoCash platform.
He also said Econet customers were now using EcoCash to make all sorts of payments, including paying salaries.
Initially, the EcoCash platform was open for sending money across cities and towns as well as purchasing airtime. The current expansion bid is expected to facilitate the speedy sending of money by expat Zimbabweans in South Africa to their friends and relatives back home.
However, Mandivenga said at the moment money transfers from South Africa through EcoCash “was available from a few limited sites in that country until the full upgrade” in Zimbabwe was complete.
"If we open up the service completely, we will have complete congestion. We have to wait two or three weeks,” said Mandivenga.
He said the excitement in South Africa was very high because EcoCash solves the problems people have had for many years when it comes to sending money home.
The company has over 8 million subscribers most of whom have driven the significant surge in EcoCash user numbers through airtime transfers, and money transfers.
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