MTN vexed by sleeping mobile money accounts

Reports streaming in indicate that MTN will soon block dormant mobile money accounts despite significant growth in the usage of mobile money platform by their customers.

The platform’s Managing Director Richard Yego, said only 12 million out of the 16 million registered MTN Mobile Money numbers are using the service. He said this on the sidelines of the launch of the 4th edition of the MoMoNyabo promotion under the theme MoMoNyabo Waaka.

“We acknowledge that there has been tremendous growth in mobile money usage, but according to the law dormant accounts should be blocked and the money transferred to Bank of Uganda.’’ Yego explained.

Although he was not exact on how many accounts will be blocked, Yego emphasised that the last two years have greatly affected financial flows of most Ugandans who are slowly recovering following the reopening of the economy. 

Between January 2021 and March 2021 following an audit by Uganda Communications Commission, a total of 2.2 million mobile money accounts were removed from the network of telecom companies.

According to the UCC report then, the removal of the accounts saw the number of active mobile money accounts revised from 22.5 million to 20.3 million at the end of March 2021.

The recently enacted National Payment Systems Act 2020 provide for suspension or deletion of inactive subscribers from the mobile money system.

Mobile money has been one of the fast-growing sectors boosted by massive penetration in the mobile telephone sector and diversification of the mobile phone functions. 

This, it seems is a move to mandatory activation of mobile money accounts. People will be forced to keep some balance on their phones. This is what most banks do. In short, MTN has gone a bank way. Some banks will debt you monthly or annually.

Now that MTN has been awakened by UCC, customers are in trouble!