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Shortly after Safaricom’s announcement to waive M-PESA charges for transactions worth less than KES 1000, rival Airtel Kenya seems to have made an even bigger move. The telecom just announced that they will be stripping away transaction fees on their mobile money, Airtel Money.
For the next three months, every single transaction conducted on Airtel’s mobile money platform will be totally free. This will be starting from the 17th of March for users sending or receiving money. Like M-PESA, the decision comes after the president’s appeal to reduce charges on mobile money, thus reducing the need to transact with physical currency.
According to both companies, they had all met with the Central Bank of Kenya alongside other industry players to lead up to this decision. The fee waiver on Airtel Money, however, comes out as quite different from M-PESA’s.
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Under the official guidelines by the CBK, Airtel Money has also raised the daily transaction money limit from KES 70,000 to KES 150,000 and the mobile money wallet limit from KES 140,000 to KES 300,000. This also includes the increase of the daily limit for mobile money transactions from Ksh. 140,000 to Ksh. 300,000.
This will, of course, be great news for Airtel Money users who will be able to transfer their money and pay bills of any amount for free to any other platform.
Furthermore, Airtel has also set up a toll-free line 719, where all customers can now access information and updates on the COVID-19. This will enable Kenyans to gain a better understanding and knowledge on how to prevent and manage any suspected cases.
[…] Since President Kenyatta urged the country to minimise contact with cash so as to check the spread of the virus (though this may not be much of a fix), mobile money platforms like M-PESA and Airtel Money, as well as banks, have waived certain transaction fees. […]