Vodacom has introduced what it says is the first of its kind in the local telecommunications industry - an insurance product for M-Pesa customers.
This move may be the first of a series of steps to bolster the uptake of its mobile money service in SA.
SA's first cellphone operator announced yesterday that its funeral cover product, which will see loyal M-Pesa customers receive up to R10 000 worth of funeral cover, is now available. “[This is] one of the insurance products Vodacom plans to offer as part of its broader financial services strategy.”
The operator says there will be no additional monthly premiums for its funeral cover. “Vodacom will calculate the amount of airtime purchased using M-Pesa over a four-month period and customers using M-Pesa will qualify for a minimum of R1 000 worth of funeral cover.”
Mark Taylor, managing executive of financial services at Vodacom, says the service has been introduced for people who want to ensure their families are not caught financially unprepared when they are most in need. “We thought there's no better way to give our customers peace of mind than to provide funeral cover at no additional cost.”
Sluggish sign-ups
In May, Vodacom CEO Pieter Uys said the two-year-old mobile money transfer solution was struggling to take off in SA and that a “new model and functionality” was needed for growth and increased uptake of M-Pesa in SA.
At the time, Uys said the struggle to sign subscribers up to M-Pesa in SA was in contrast to its Tanzanian and Kenyan operations, which have seen the facility flourish. While SA has a marginal 850 000 users signed up to the service - just 2.9% of the local customer base - a third of Tanzanian subscribers (3.1 million) are active users of the service.
Uys was adamant the operator would not abandon its mobile money service in light of weak numbers. He said the demand for mobile money services was there and that Vodacom would take steps to shift the local model to be geared more appropriately for the South African market.
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