Addressing honourable members of the ICT Parliament Portfolio Committee yesterday in the capital, on the state of active mobile payment service providers Reserve Bank Governor Dr John Mangudya said there are three private and two government-owned mobile money operators.
"The mobile financial market in Zimbabwe has significantly developed with over 10 million subscribers leveraging on high penetration rate of mobile phones, there are five registered mobile payment service providers namely, MyCash, Telecash-Telecel, Ecocash-Econet, OneMoney-NetOne and GetCash.
With 6.4 million active mobile subscriptions as at December 2018, mobile money has continued to be a formidable force in the country. Its biggest attraction being a convenience, speed and security that it offers to users.
Mangudya's address was a response to the letter by the committee which sought insight into the cost and quality of data services and mechanisms put in place by the RBZ to ensure foreign currency availability is prioritized to the ICT sector.
The governor also spoke on Interoperability, where Zimbabwe has vastly improved as all banks are intra or extra providers of card and mobile financial services.
The RBZ encouraged members of parliament to aid its mandate by continuing to push for the enactment of critical bills into legislation in order to enhance the financial services sector of the country. Some of the bills include the Consumer Protection, Data Privacy, Electronic Transaction and Cybersecurity bills.
"It is, therefore, our humble plea to the honourable members to expedite the long outstanding Bills to enable the respective stakeholders including the RBZ to fully and effectively discharge then given mandates for the benefit of the citizens," he said.
The national bank is striving for a digital economy by 2030, and encouraging people to conduct cashless payments more-a move that will release the pressure on the central bank, as people will be transacting virtually.