Telecel Zimbabwe, the local unit of Russian based VimpelCom, is going paperless, the mobile operator announced on Tuesday.

The number two mobile operator in Zimbabwe has about 2.5 million subscribers said that it was introducing a PIN-less electronic airtime recharge service dubbed, e-Juice.

e-Juice will enable subscribers to top up their cellphones using an electronic service.

“E-Juice allows subscribers to get airtime directly loaded onto their mobile phones without having to purchase physical scratch cards or vouchers which come with recharge PIN numbers,” Telecel Zimbabwe said in a news release on Tuesday.

The company’s communications manager, Obert Mandimika, said subscribers can pay for the airtime they want at any agent outlet, give their mobile number to the operator and the airtime is electronically topped up into their account.

Airtime topped up using the new service has no limit, as with top up cards that start from $1.

Subscribers can top up amounts as low as 1 cent, the company advised.

“Our customers no longer have to struggle with over-scratched recharge cards whose PIN numbers are sometimes difficult to make out,” added Mandimika.

The new electronic airtime top up service also “makes it easier for our dealers and vendors to distribute and receive airtime” as they now no-longer have to travel to Telecel airtime distribution centres to collect top up cards.

“Instead they can simply purchase airtime remotely and distribute that airtime via an electronic wallet.”