Telkom makes a comeback into mobile money with launch of Tkash

Mobile operator, Telkom Kenya Monday reopened its mobile money unit, nine months after the telco firm scrapped its Orange Money product.

Dubbed, Tkash, the new service developed at an estimated cost of Sh1billion had been in works for two years, according to the company and is now expected to rival Safaricom’s Mpesa and Airtel Money.

“Tkash is an improved version of the previous service, which will offer value, reliability and convenience to our customers. It meets today’s market standards,” said Telkom’s Chief executive Aldo Mareuse during the product’s launch in Nairobi, adding that the company has already signed up 20,000 agents across the country to facilitate transactions.

Kenya boasts of the largest and most advanced mobile economy still has 95% of financial transactions in cash; This is an opportunity for Mobile Financial Services to capture this segment of the market, gradually turning these transactions into cash-lite and ultimately converting the economy into a cashless economy.

According to the Q3 Communication Authority sector statistics report; the mobile market has been on a constant growth with 41 Million mobile subscriptions. Of this, the number of active mobile money transfer subscriptions stands at 28 Million that carried out a total of 537 Million transactions (being sending and withdrawals) with a total currency value of Ksh.1.65 trillion.

Globally, the digitalisation of financial services has helped break long-standing barriers to financial inclusion. The combined efforts of both banks and mobile network operators (MNOs) to leverage the mobile phone as a channel to bridge the financial exclusion gap has increased Kenya’s financial inclusion rate to 75 per cent.