Airtel Mobile Commerce Uganda Limited (AMCUL) has Thursday December 15 announced a 95% drop in Airtel Money charges for transactions across other networks. It will now cost the same (Shs1000) to send money from Airtel to other networks in Uganda and to Airtel Customers in East Africa. This new development will create new opportunities for the development of the East African Financial Sector.
AMCUL also announced a 78% reduction in Airtel Money charges to other Global Networks.
Announcing these new developments, Airtel Mobile Commerce Uganda Limited (AMCUL) Managing Director, Japheth Aritho said, “Interoperability has been a challenge to the growth of Digital financial inclusion. We made a pledge to build a sustainable business that shares value within the community. This price reduction is informed by our commitment to build Uganda and Africa, our home.
Aritho added, “AMCUL’s mandate is to offer affordable and borderless transactions in Uganda and across the globe via the Airtel Money platform. We are pleased to announce up to 78% reduction in charges for global transactions as we continue to reduce barriers to financial inclusion”
A customer sending One million to Airtel Kenya will now pay Shs 1000 instead of the UG 52,100/= making huge savings from the reduced charges. This gives value to the customer and makes Uganda competitive.
According to a Market Research Report (2017) by Financial Sector Deepening Program (FSDP), the demand for interoperability by end users of financial services was high, even though faced with high charges. Most respondents indicated sending (98%) and receiving (97%) money across networks (off-net) as being important or necessary.
Almost all end-users were willing to send (96%) and receive (97%) across networks and 69% were willing to pay slightly more for these services than they would do for transactions on the same network. They did feel, however, that this cost should be less than it currently is.
“AMCUL will continue, without differentiation, to extend the frontiers of e-commerce to all Ugandans, their partners, and families across the globe. I would like to extend our gratitude to our partners, especially the media, for keeping the financial inclusion discussion on the agenda”
Aritho added that this campaign is open until 15th March 2023.
