The entry of Econet in the prepaid electricity token sales business has brought convenience to many electricity users who can now easily buy tokens around the clock using their Ecocash wallets.Econet has more than 6 million people who use Ecocash and given that Zimbabwe has 3 million households, it is likely that every household has at least one user who is on Ecocash. The current cash shortages also compel people to do mobile transactions, which is a plus for Econet.
The largest mobile telecoms operator’s entry has however pushed aside many small sub-agents who were making their income by selling electricity tokens.
Although it took time for Zesa Holdings to add the Ecocash mobile money platform to start trading the electricity tokens, many sub-agents were already relying on Ecocash to facilitate their transactions, given the current shortages of cash.
Many agents – who sought to provide convenience to their customers who did not have cash, or who could not come to their shops or wanted to be served after hours – were asking their clients to transfer the money to their Ecocash biller codes and send the payment details on WhatsApp.
The agent will then send the token numbers to be entered on the electricity meter and boom – power would be restored.
However, with the entry of Econet, many clients are now doing away with the long process of having to visit the agents or having to talk with them first and waiting for their responses.
They are now doing it themselves using their Ecocash wallets. This has put many sub-agents out of business, as more clients no longer require their services.
Econet, which recently posted a 37 percent slump in its profits for the half year ended August 31, 2016, is seeking to take advantage of its huge mobile money platform to maximise returns from this new source of income and has already been advertising the service aggressively.
However some clients who have
been using Ecocash to buy electricity tokens have been complaining that sometimes it takes time for the system to give out tokens after making payment, with some saying they had to wait for days.
Already NetOne has been selling electricity tokens using its OneWallet mobile money platform. However it has not made much impact given OneWallet’s few users. OneWallet has 13 000 subscribers. Telecel is also envisaged to come on board but its Telecash platform also has less subscribers of about 65 000.
This leaves Econet with a good chance to get the lion’s share.
- The Herald