By FREDRICK OBURA

Pressure to remain afloat among telecommunication companies is keeping chief executive officers (CEOs) awake.

They are being drawn into new strategies to boost revenue.

The options include a bulk payment through the mobile money transfer services.

Orange and Safaricom are exploring partnerships with social payment organisations and several institutions to transform their services from the ordinary cash transaction to bulk payments.

“In Kenya, 47 per cent of all money transfer services are currently carried out using mobile phones as opposed to conventional payment channels such as clearing houses, bank branches, automated teller machines (ATMs) and money transfer services such as Western Union,” says Telkom Kenya Chief Executive Officer Mikael Ghossein.

more partners
“The drive, which has seen us partner with various firms and organisations, including Equity Bank, Care Kenya, with a new licensing payment under development with the Nairobi City Council,”adds Ghossien.

“This is part of a strategy to focus on mobile payments as opposed to mobile money transactions.” According to Ghossien, the bulk payments strategy is in recognition of the fact that mobile Money platforms are like bank account
“Bulk payment is an interesting model for Orange as it enhances the population’s access to financial services in the country,” said Ghossien.

“We are considering working with other banks, but so far equity has the widest coverage though the Orange Money platform will in the future be opened to other banks.”

The Orange Money platform is being used to pay Telkom Kenya staff.

It is also used to transfer of pension funds for the over 10,000 members Teleposta Saving and Cooperative Societies.  Customers can access funds from 500 Equity bank ATMs located at 120 branches and over 3,500 agent outlets.

“The main challenge is the number of agents and the limited number of point of sale (POS) facilities. That is why we’ve positioned our service as an m-payment and not an m-transaction solution,” stated Ghossein.

Increased uptake
Orange currently has 150,000 users on its money services network while Safaricom, the largest opera tor has over 17 million subscribers.

Safaricom’s results shows increased uptake and reliance on mobile money.

The company’s financial results for 2011/12 made a net profit of Sh12.6 billion, a 4 per cent drop from what the company realised last year.

Its mobile money service M-Pesa, however saw its revenues grow 43 per cent to Sh16.9 billion supported by a six per cent growth in registered users to 14.9 million.

The telecom giant is also looking into the bulk payments options to its subscribers who need to send money by M-Pesa to many people who may be widely dispersed.

Safaricom’s bulk service payment is now being used by East African Breweries and social payment organisations such as the Concern World.

It targets organisations that need promotional payments, field staff, and salary disbursements as well as dividend payments among other services.

poverty eradication
With the Care Kenya partnership with Orange Money has enabled groups from remote areas of the country with no formal banking services to make saving through their mobile phones as it focuses on poverty reduction.

The partnership, called Village Savings and Loan Associations or VSLAs which targets about 450,00 people, has so far enabled users open Equity Bank accounts.

They have also made deposits into interest-bearing group savings accounts without making physical visits to the bank.

security feature
For account data security, Care, Telkom and Equity Bank - developed a security verification system that requires three VSLA members to provide PINs for every transaction.

This is an electronic equivalent of the three-padlock VSLA metal lockbox that prevents any one person from accessing the group’s cash.The system allows VSLA members secure mobile access to the specific account.

This enables them make cash deposits and withdrawals with Orange money as well as Equity Bank agents near their homes or at any Equity Bank branch.

Orange Money’s focus on bulk payments comes at a time when mobile payment platforms have become trusted and popular locally.