Corporate News
Equity Bank CEO James Mwangi. The bank has been given the go-ahead to
launch its mobile phone banking service using regular SIM cards. File
By OKUTTAH MARK
In Summary
The telecommunications sector regulator has said Equity Bank is free to launch its mobile phone banking and cash transfer service ahead of the resolution of a petition filed by Safaricom.
But Equity cannot use the ultra-thin SIM cards which are
secured on top of ordinary SIMs until a ruling on the matters raised by
Safaricom is made, the Communications Authority of Kenya
director-general Francis Wangusi has said.
Safaricom has filed a petition claiming that
Equity’s phone-based banking and cash transfer service, which is
intended to ride on a special SIM card that is placed on top of
conventional SIMs, would pose a security threat to mobile subscribers.
“The delay in making a ruling on the matter cannot
bar Equity from rolling out its services because they can still start
with conventional SIM cards and later introduce the thin SIM, depending
on the ruling we will come up with,” said Mr Wangusi in an interview.
The communications regulator says it is awaiting
expert responses from the GSMA (Global Systems for Mobile phone
Applications) and a Korean thin SIM card manufacturer before making a
ruling on Safaricom’s petition.
Safaricom, the provider of the M-Pesa mobile phone
payments service, challenged Equity’s intention to use the thin SIM
cards, saying they would expose subscribers to financial fraud and
intercepted communication.
“We expect to get responses from the GSMA this
week. However, as we speak we have not received any communication from
them,” said Mr Wangusi. The SIM card in contention is paper-thin and
embedded with a chip. Users overlay it on their primary SIM card,
regardless of the network, and can subsequently receive services from
two mobile service providers simultaneously.
Ultra slim SIM cards
Mr Wangusi said that other than the experts’
advice, the Authority will also have to carry out research to get the
best global practices on where the technology has worked or is being
used. The regulator wants to establish whether use of the ultra slim
phone cards, which ride on mobile phone subscribers’ primary SIM cards,
poses potential security threats.
“We have no issue with any of the MVNOs (Mobile
Virtual Network Operators). In fact, we have always welcomed the
competition. The issue we raised related to the so-called thin SIM where
we are seeking guidance from the Communications Authority and GSM on
its specific impact on Kenyan customers,” the Safaricom CEO Bob
Collymore told Business Daily on Friday.
Equity Bank was in April granted an MVNO licence
alongside Mobile Pay Ltd and Zioncell. Equity plans to use the licence
to roll out mobile banking services jointly with Airtel.
Equity had initially said that it was to launch its
services in July and is currently doing testing using conventional SIM
cards, having been issued with 0736 as the mobile numbering prefix.
Equity responded to Safaricom’s protest letter dated June 26, arguing
that the thin SIM technology is not new and is use in a number of
countries such as UK, China, Cambodia, Taiwan, among others.
It also asked the regulator to dismiss the
allegations made by Safaricom in their letter and instead leave the
licensees to compete in the market freely.
“The thin SIM would eliminate the hustle associated
with switching SIM cards or acquiring a dual SIM phone, thereby making
it more convenient for consumers to use both lines seamlessly,” Equity
noted in its response.
mokuttah@ke.nationmedia.com
No comments:
Post a Comment