Tanzania Posts Corp. and Vodacom Tanzania Ltd. have inked a mobile-banking agreement in which Vodacom will use the postal service’s network of branches as agents to support its M-Pesa funds-transfer service.
M-Pesa is a branchless mobile-banking service already operating in Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa and Afghanistan that enables consumers to deposit and withdraw funds from a network that includes airtime resellers and retail outlets.
The postal department also is testing a proprietary electronic funds-transfer service called Posta Cash designed to help consumers in isolated places to transfer funds through its branch network, the spokesperson adds.
To use Posta Cash, customers must present the amount they wish to send either in cash or from a payment card and the beneficiary’s name and address at any of its branches countrywide. Recipients may retrieve the funds by proving his identity, the sender’s details and the amount at the payout branch.
According to the spokesperson, the beneficiary will be intimated by telephone or by a text message whenever the cash is received at a branch and is available for withdrawal.
Tanzania Posts expects the Posta Cash service to roll out in the first half of 2011, he adds.
What do you think about this? Send us your feedback.
