its about to get interesting

#EquityMVNO top trend in Kenya, the spiel in tweets...
CIO EAST AFRICA ‏@CIOEastAfrica

o Equity 3.0 converts financial model to a lifestyle- Mwangi
o #MVNO to digitize banking process, increase access and enhance experience
o Equity bank to avail all its products through the phone through #MVNO
o Equity 3.0 projected to be on for the next 10 years. Strategy is to eliminate cash from transactions
o For every phone and sim card issued there will be a debit card. Every phone will however double as a credit & debit card
o Banks might in future eliminate branches. #MVNO to provide reliability
o Journey to MVNO started in 1998
o Equity handles only 2% of transactions in digital form
o MVNO brings Convience, Trust, Viability
o #MVNO not competition to agency banking
o Every data from SIM Card to system is encrypted
o SIM card the nerve center of our security- Mwangi
o #MVNO to provide open platform for all banks, mobile money networks
o #MVNO prioritizes mobile & internet provides ideal model for regulators on collaboration for Telco and banking
o Cost of money transfer to be just 1% with a maximum cap of 25 shillings irrespective of amount
o Equity bank to offer special mobile loans at an interest of 1-2% per month from current average of 7.5%
o Airtel offering 60% of excess capacity on offer
o #Airtel chosen by #Equitybank as it has an East African presence
o #Equity group set to be Airtel's biggest customer
o Equity has set up a 300 seater contact center
o Agents turned around Kshs 23billion in April to shoot to Kshs 50 billion
o Former CCK director general Eng. John Waweru to serve as 1st Finserve chairman
o Eng. Waweru first DG of CCK 2005-08
o Equity to start testing with 8000 staff launch to be in July
o Equity bank customers to have SIM card ready during launch
o This means that #EquityBanks MVNO 'could' jump to no. 2 Telco in market share with 9 million customers
o #Finserve currently in pilot phase with 100 SIM cards in testing phase

Am skeptical. I think their track record with ATM breakdowns speaks for itself.

A celebrated pessimist. Are you still waiting for safaricom down there at 3bob?

What if airtel pulls out of kenyan market since it has been struggling? Or will this partnership reverse airtel fortune

Airtel pulling out will leave a running business with a different owner so i think a new owner will still want to get business from equity and the rest.

That would break the proverbial camel's back.

Margins in voice are slim & cost of maintaining clients hooked on the service are not very enticing ( Saf's post paid tariff withdrawal from market ).

Also, this is a fat opportunity to the enterprising to come up with/invent/import/customize devices (think digital wallets) that will maximise the potential for these mobile transactions without necessarily being phones, meaning their cost will be lower since the stringent measures applied for phone compliance do not apply.

Good for competition, choice, quality of service and pricing. But Equity better be keen on creating and growing their own space. If they are banking entirely on displacing Safaricom, I do not see that happening any time soon for numerous reasons not least of which is depth of pocket.

Free sim cards and low pricing alone will not lead to mass migration from Mpesa if we are to go by Kenyans peculiar habits. Would have been great though if Equity could find a way to deploy this strategy in the more virgin markets outside Kenya i.e. East Africa.

The infrastructure is ready. It's not like they have to set it up. And their Customers service center is there also to handle queries. I don't see why they would deny their customers the convenience of voice, sms, and data especially with most people needing to call their help desk for guidance as they Gain ground on educating the mass on this new way of doing great banking.
Apps on that Sim or on smart devices will need data connectivity and unless you live in nakuru where there is free Wi-Fi