TN Bank to finance smartphones and tablets for Econet subscribers

L.S.M Kabweza Avatar

When Econet made moves to acquire TN Bank last year, they made it clear it was to push adoption of their EcoCash mobile money service. But there are more benefits to owning a financial institution than just driving mobile money adoption; Econet announced today that one of those benefits, and indeed one of the reasons it acquired the bank, was to have it finance smartphone deals for Econet subscribers.

Econet itself already has contract smartphone deals, which so far look like they haven’t had that many takers so we imagine TN bank will introduce some more friendly terms, prices or at least more innovation (read subsidize the latest and greatest devices out there) than just “take this device and pay us mbichana mbichana for 24 months”. But who knows, maybe even that basic deal will have people stepping over each other iPhones and iPads.

Econet also says in today’s announcement that TN bank is now being run by Econet executives and that the executives are at an advanced stage to restructuring the bank to have it process thousands of small loan applications for smartphones and tablets.

Why Econet thinks this is a great idea:

In order to grow its revenues in a maturing voice market, Econet needs to convert more and more of its eight million customers to users of smartphones and tablet computers which can use high-speed data and Internet services.

Due to liquidity constraints and the ravages of hyperinflation, many Zimbabweans are behind in upgrading their communication devices. This is the reason why Econet has decided to essentially speed up the process.

Hard to argue with that! We just hope similar diligent efforts go to scaling the network so it can accommodate all that planned smartphone activity. The network is struggling to keep up with the data demand of current subscribers as it is.

Econet is the largest telecoms firm in Zimbabwe. Along with this announcement, the company also revealed today that they have reached 8 million GSM mobile subscribers and 2 million EcoCash mobile money subscribers. In Zimbabwe, the Econet Wireless Group also owns a Liquid Telecom, a fibre, satellite & payments company, and Zimbabwe Online, an Internet Service Provider.

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11 comments

  1. tinm@n

    As long as Econet is involved, expect to sell your kidney or something. They havent quite understood the tradeoff for contracts, what more financing. To those who can, do so in droves…you are empowering a local biz afterall

  2. Chris Mberi

    You’ve got to hand it to these guys…they know what they want and they are going for it. I feel in many ways it could be as great an idea as TN MALL which has brought new furniture in many homes.

  3. Cde Mark

    i like the ideas behind Econet, they always aim high and with TN thay are aiming higher. Beware Telecel and Netone this is the opportunity we had been waiting for years now

  4. luvg

    Only fee people can afford to take loan for smartphones and unfortunately for Econet, those who can afford to have those loans can afford cash too! There so many other basic things their subscribers are after….

  5. Culprit

    I think TN first needs to roll out ATM’s before venturing into a grey area like financing smart phones and tablets the only advantage I see for them is the ability to insure themselves in case of bad debtors, then again we wait to see how this plays out.

  6. Concern Shoko

    Great stuff Econet. FNB in SA is doing well with this. I see the guys at Econet have pulled the curtain down on “re-inventing the wheel” and decided to copy and paste what works in other markets…good for u!

    1. @letsapzim

      The FNB model though is to drive account openings and you spot on, it has worked wonders especially with them partnering and recreating “iStore” presence for the after sales. TN’s model seems though financing which is open to non-banking client (lest I read wrong). By virtue of being the bank’s client, the bank’s risk is managed as they have a direct view of your spending history and will always prioritise their deductions. Financing non-clients well, ask the guys vechimbadzo

    2. ic0n1c

      And surprise surprise they have snagged FNB’s commercial director to head TN bank… guess we know which model they have adopted.

  7. Dogstar

    Let’s hope whatever deal you get it is not just for Econet

  8. 🙂

    Do they even have the capacity to handle all the potential devices they will sell if they manage to have attractive pricing? Because when I was in Zim, i struggled to access the internet from my phone. And it wasn’t me only. All my relatives told me its commonplace for econet to drop data capabilites for some or other reason leaving internet addicts like me in the dark.

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