NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Monday, June 6, 2016

Econet has announced that payments made on its mobile money platform, EcoCash, will not attract any transaction fees.

According to Econet, this has been effected for merchant payments that are made via the conventional USSD channels or through the EcoCash mobile app. Payments made via the EcoCash debit card will still attract normal charges.

It’s not completely free, though. all transactions will still attract the 5 cents government tax which has been levied on every mobile money transaction. EcoCash has called this development a “special thank you” as the mobile money service positions itself to be a primary solution for all payments. Cash alternatives like mobile money have often been avoided because of steep transactional charges.

Zimbabwe is currently experiencing cash shortages and this has resulted in banks reducing withdrawal limits. Mobile money services like EcoCash have also been affected and some agents have run out of cash for some transactions.