Harare - State-owned mobile telecommunications firm, NetOne says it has seen it fit to introduce DStv payments via their mobile money service OneMoney in a bid to ease the hustles currently being faced by Zimbabweans to subscribe for the paid up TV service because of foreign currency shortages plaguing the country.
Zimbabwe adopted the multi-currency regime in February 2009 after the Zimbabwean dollar was discontinued as a temporary measure, but to this day the system is still in use, ostensibly because it has been working well in a number of ways, including stabilising of the economy.
With the persistent foreign currency shortages and the introduction of the bond notes in October 2016 many Banks in the country stopped payments to Multichoice, Africa's largest pay-TV company.
Most of the local Banks are demanding the elusive United States dollar and an extra commission to process DStv subscriptions and this follows the closure of plastic money payments avenues, side lining a number of customers as the green back is scarce and is being sold at the blackmarket.
It is against this background that NetOne has come up with the idea to introduce DStv payments via their mobile Money Service OneMoney, says a source acquainted with the developments.
Most Zimbabweans are migrating from the country's sole small screen ZBC TV and the development by OneMoney comes at an opportune time as the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe considers DStv as entertainment hence they do not prioritize payments due to the serivce in terms of import prioritisation. The country has three mobile money platforms — EcoCash, Telecash and OneMoney — operated by Econet, Telecel and NetOne, respectively.
