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Harare Bureau
ECONET wireless says it is undertaking a multi-million dollar expansion of its mobile money service, EcoCash, in response to its dramatic and unexpected growth since its launch. The Ecocash service has received more than 2,1 million users since its inception two years ago and the agency network, which includes individual traders, postal offices and other businesses, grew by 242 percent to 3 000 agents by the end of February this year.
This created employment opportunities while the platform has been touted as facilitating the movement of cash across the economy. The result has also boosted trade in the country’s mostly informal economy.
In a statement, Econet said this unexpected growth had exacerbated the need to install a much bigger system.
“Executives at the company concede they have been caught by surprise by the dramatic growth of EcoCash, and have had to scramble to order and install a much bigger system,” the company said.
Engineers from the company’s suppliers have been in the country for several weeks upgrading all the systems and they are expected to have completed their work by the end of September.
Econet said the expansion would make the EcoCash system four times bigger than it currently is, and also pave the way for the company to launch additional services.
Econet Services chief executive Mr Darlington Mandivenga said the expansion would allow the company to launch new services on the EcoCash platform.
He said Econet customers were now using the Ecocash platform to make all sorts of payments, including paying salaries as well as sending money to their relatives in the rural areas.
Mr Mandivenga also said Econet had activated the Ecocash service for Zimbabweans in South Africa although the service was currently 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,” he said.
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.
Statistics show that Zimbabwe accounts for the bulk of the cross-border remittances market, and more than R6,7 billion, which translates to 60 percent of total Sadc remittances, is estimated to be sent to Zimbabwe from South Africa each year.
There is belief that Ecocash could surpass the achievements of the largest mobile money service, M-Pesa, run by Kenya’s Safaricom.
Online Reporter