Safaricom PLC and Telkom Kenya will on Thursday integrate their mobile phone accounts to allow seamless funds transfer between the two networks at no extra cost.
The move, which is the second phase of mobile interoperability will see a significant drop in the transfer charges by up to 76 percent. Customers from both networks will send and receive money directly into their mobile money accounts.
The integration is a welcome after the first phase of interoperability was implemented in April where Safaricom Plc and Airtel allowed the transfer of funds directly between the networks.
Beginning Thursday, the cost of sending 1000 shillings from T-Kash to M-Pesa will be 10 shillings as opposed to the initial 35 shillings. This is a 71 percent decrease in the cost of transfers.
Consequently, sending 1,000 shillings from M-Pesa to T-Kash will cost 11 shillings instead of 45 shillings, which represents a 76 percent reduction in the cost of transfer.
Registered customers on both networks will enjoy reduced transfer costs from a band of between 35 shillings and 309 shillings to a low of 10 shillings to a maximum of 105 shillings.
The reduced costs will go a long way in boosting money transfer as well as helping smaller mobile money users enhance their transactions.
The best part of this second phase of interoperability is that the cross-network transfers between the two telcos will double from 35,000 shillings.
Furthermore, customers will enjoy reduced costs of transfer from what used to attract high charges; money transfer across different networks.
The last leg of interoperability between Telkom Kenya and Airtel will be launched soon after all the necessary processes are completed.
According to the joint statement published over the weekend, Telkom Kenya’s inclusion in the interoperability initiative marks a milestone for the company towards a better integrated mobile money ecosystem and boost financial inclusion across the country.
Safaricom and Telkom Kenya’s integration will render useless the old system where a customer was alerted through a text notification to collect money from an agent before a period of 7 days expire.
The old system has somewhat been unwelcoming and many individuals have lost money due to the difficult and tedious process of money withdrawal, especially when the voucher expires.
The process will come into effect on October 4, 2018.