Equity to start distributing one million more Equitel SIM cards

Equity Group is set to start distributing the second bunch of a million Equitel SIM Cards after it got approval from the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA), which also allocated it their next prefix.

This was confirmed by John Staley, Chief Officer - Finance, Innovation and Technology during an interview with the Standard. He did not, however, disclose what the new prefix will be, but said the bank will start distributing them soon.

“The Equitel brand has been growing fast and we were forced to order for more SIM cards after the ones we had in stock got finished,” said Staley who added that the bank was satisfied with the rate of growth of its mobile brand.

Equitel posted a growth of 81 per cent up from 62 per cent growth in mobile banking between the month of October 2014 and March 2015 and the subscribers number grew up from 209,554 subscribers in March 2014 to reach 665,661 subscribers in March 2015. The bank did not, however, indicate the current figure of subscribers but there was speculation it had gone beyond the one million mark by the time it was applying for the new prefixes from the CA.

Already, the bank is said to be “pleased and surprised” with the high uptake rate of Equitel in the pilot phase. The product has not been launched officially and the management said it was planning to do so soon.

It has been operational for about half a year now, and the bank’s official records show it has been netting between 3,000 to 4,000 new customers on a daily basis, a development Staley says, has put Equitel as the fastest developing Mobile Virtual Network (MVN) brand in the world.

“In all the countries where the model operates, companies net hundreds of thousands after several years but we managed that feat in a couple of months. The growth is impressive and we hope to do more,” said Staley.

Few days ago, Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i alleged that market leader, Safaricom was paying litigants to delay the roll-out of alternative technologies, in reference to Equity Bank’s suspended cash transfer services, whose role out is still awaiting court decision.

perception

Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore pointed out he would act if the matter was officially communicated.

Equity has been looking to launch the technology since the regulator granted its subsidiary Finserve-along with two other companies-an Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) licence in April last year.

“But perception that we have come to take away business from other people is misguided. Equitel is a value addition service that the bank is offering its customers to improve customer experience. We are trying to make banking cheap and as accessible as possible to our 10 million customers,” said Equity Group Holdings CEO James Mwangi.

“If we really want the masses and the low-income people to join banking, then we should make financial products very affordable, and that is the value proposition that we are making to the market.”

Everyone who registers for Equitel gets Sh50 free to spend on airtime or data, meaning the bank has so far dished out over Sh50 million to its customers in free airtime going by the number of SIM cards it has distributed so far.

On Equitel M-Banking transactions, The Group recorded a growth of 4.5 million transactions in March 2015 up from 800,000 transaction in October 2014.

Equitel, SIM Cards currently bear the prefix 0763xxxxxx and is integrated in Equity’s banking and mobile services. Other services on the platform include the ability to apply for loan, check account balance and change PIN.