NetOne Makes All Transactions FREE In All Out Onslaught On Embattled Ecocash

Telecommunications company, Netone, has introduced zero-rated transactions on its OneMoney platform in its latest assault on its embattled rival, Ecocash, following a recent upgrade exercise that disrupted normal service.

NetOne, the first mobile phone operator in the country took a daredevil approach to profit from EcoCash’s troubles by scrapping all transaction fees on its OneMoney platform.

NetOne CEO Lazarus Muchenje announced on Monday that subscribers on Netone’s OneMoney service will only pay the statutory 2 per cent tax on transactions until December 31.

We’ve introduced zero-rated transactions on all OneMoney transactions except the statutory 2 per cent tax and card swiping charges. This means that when you send money, there’s no fees; when you receive money there’re no fees; when you purchase airtime, there’ no fees; when you cash-out, there’re no fees; and when you buy at the shop using the merchant code, there’re no fees,” Muchenje told a news conference.

The mobile money giant, EcoCash, has recently come under fire from its subscribers over sporadic service availability following its major systems upgrade on November 16. The 24-hour shutdown which was meant to improve system availability only resulted in protracted chaos as customers have continued to complain that they cannot transact.

Social media has since been flooded with complaints from EcoCash’s customers venting out their frustrations. In a statement issued last week, Ecocash’s parent company, Cassava Smartech Zimbabwe’s chief executive Mr Eddie Chibi said that they were currently seized with post over stability issues after they moved to a new platform.
We successfully implemented the planned upgrade of Ecocash to a new, more secure platform, and would like to thank our valued customers for their patience over this period.

However we are dealing with post-cut stability issues to optimise the availability of various EcoCash services across the new platform, and once again request our customers to bear with us as this may result in intermittent services.