@meme
That is crucial insider information I have gotten

I was in one of their branches and some customers were very excited about the thin sim technology....some were even testifying how efficient it was apparently some customers had been given the sim card during the pilot stage sometime back and had enjoyed the service...

The problem was with the ordinary SIM cards ...the customers were unwilling to discard their current SIM card for equitel SIM....

I think Equity success will be hinged on the ThinSIM technology...and if The regulators give it a clean bill of health after the pilot, Safaricom will be in trouble.

It is also interesting that Equitel network charges are somehow similar to safaricom 4/= across networks.

I visited one of the Equity Agents and found that the tariff guide was different from what we are being told ...the charges were escalating according to the amount withdrawn max being 225/= if you are withdrawing above 100K....I think they will review the charges once Equitel is fully rolled out.

All in all Equitel will have an uphill task to dislodge safaricom given that Mpesa success is in safeguarding the interest of its agents who eventually ensure safaricom maintains one of the most efficient and expansive distribution network.

The brochures I got from the branch talk about 1% of money being transferred subject to a max of 25sh.
By the way, I do not think Equity is trying to compete head-on with Safaricom to become Kenya's preferred mobile money provider.In my thinking, they just want to keep all Equity money within Equity branches,agents & SIMs.
They are also after ensuring every Equity customer has an Mshwari kind of loan.So the focus is on Equity customers & not all Kenyans per se.

Does MKESHO still exist? And how come Airtel and Orange customers experienced the same issue

Spot on! As I said elsewhere, this battle is not between Equity and Safaricom. Equity want to ring fence all funds that they come into contact with. Should all these plans come to fruition, any corporate/business/individual/kiosk/merchant wanting to be paid by their customers must have a bank account with Equity. Anyone can then tell the implications of this in the market.