Tanzania’s government should put in place regulations to oversee telecom and mobile banking firms, an assistant minister has said.
Deputy Minister for Science and Technology January Makamba called on the players in the mobile banking sector to work together to see that regulations are in place.
The mobile sector in Tanzania has been growing with the country’s major network operators including Airtel and Vodacom garnering far-reaching subscriber base.
Last year, during the Airtel’s mobile money relaunch, the Finance and Economic Affairs Minister, Mustafa Makulo, said that the mobile money service had been beneficial to farmers hence spurring economic growth.
“I’m very pleased to see how mobile services are complementing the banking sector,” Makamba added.
Tanzania has four mobile money products including Tigo Pesa, Airtel Money, M-Pesa and Ezy Pesa. It is estimated that the mobile money subscriptions in the country is around 16.8 subscriptions, with M-Pesa taking up to 8 million subscribers.
In March this year, experts warned that the mobile cash transfers would erode liquidity in the country’s market.
The analysts attributed the liquidity the banks suffered to the high competition posed by the mobile cash transfers.
Banks have however downplayed the issue of competition. Lawrence Mafuru, Chairman of Tanzania Bankers Association said: “We do not see any competition from telecoms. Mobile banking services just compliment those of mainstream banking. And in fact they need us as we need them.”
Most banks have therefore implemented mobile banking and allowed telecom firms to integrate mobile banking for their clients.
