Towards the end of last year, One Money introduced an astounding promotion. It introduced a promotion whereby its subscribers would transact on their platform at zero charges. This spanned from sending and receiving the money to paying for goods and services. They indicated that the promotion would be valid until the end of 2019. The only exception to their promotion was that people would still be charged the Intermediated Money Transfer Tax (IMTT). To top that they also introduced other promotions such as 50% discounts on airtime bought using One Money. They also introduced the 1 GB reward for funding your One Money wallet with ZWL$500 or more. All this was against the backdrop of the Ecocash platform challenges that inconvenienced so many in the final quarter of 2019.

One Money Has Extended The Zero Charge Transaction Promotion

Despite having said the promotion will run till the end of 2019 they have decided to extend it. Hereon is a statement from NetOne’s CEO Mr Lazarus Muchenje: “To help usher in the year 2020, NetOne has extended the zero-tariff promotion on One Money until March 2020 as a means of cushioning the transacting public to pay school fees, make payments, send and receive money. We will continue with our mission to transform and develop lives through communication solutions as we complement government efforts towards Vision 2030 – an upper middle-class economy”

Fees For Less Promotion

To add onto that, One Money has also introduced a promotion where some of its subscribers will enjoy refunds after paying for school fees using One Money. Essentially the first 500 subscribers to pay school fees using One Money will receive refunds according to the various amount ranges. The first 500 will be the first 500 per province – thus a total of 5000 subscribers stand a chance to benefit from this. If you pay ZWL$250 (and below) you will receive a 100% refund. If you pay between ZWL$251 and ZWL$500 you will receive a ZWL$250 refund. If you pay between ZWL$501 and ZWL$7000 you will get a refund of ZWL$300. If you make a school fees payment of ZWL$7000 or more you will enjoy a ZWL$400 refund.

On top of that everyone who makes a school fees payment of ZWL$200 or more qualifies to be a part of a fortnightly grocery vouchers promotion. This will run for the duration of the fees for less promotion. Each grocery voucher will be worth ZWL$200 and 20 winners will walk away with this every 2 weeks.

The Prospects Are Promising For Net One

One Money is clearly determined to continue pushing for its mobile money subscriber base to grow. As its mobile and mobile money subscriber base grows it is important also that they work on upgrading their systems and infrastructure too. Net One has a lot to learn from the errors of Econet and as such they must avoid the same mistakes by all means. I think they should continue to think of ways in which they can lure more people to cross over. The opportunity for more people to cross over is still there. Of course, the Ecocash platform is now up and running again but people still continue to experience hurdles from time to time. One Money must capitalize on that to ensure they present an alluring value proposition.

2019 was a progressive year for NetOne as it enjoyed growth in both its mobile subscriber base and its One Money subscriber base. In the 3rd quarter, its mobile subscriber base spiked from 2 752 458 subscribers to 3 042 930 subscribers (a 10.6% spike). Its One Money subscriber base surged from 335 132 to 428 529 subscribers (a 27% surge – this is active subscribers). Ever since the zero charge promotion came onto the scene One Money has registered 11000 merchant lines and 19000 agent lines. Overall, NetOne still has a long way to go to catch up with Econet but with consistent and superior service provision they can get there.