Country Director for Airtel Malawi Francis Matseketsa told Malawi News Agency (Mana) in an exclusive interview that the Airtel money service is growing phenomenally as according to figures that have been observed for a period of three months.

“If you look at the number of customers registered on the Airtel money platform it has now reached one million and those that are continuously using it the figure is at 500, 000. We have grown a strong agent network across to ensure that even those customers in the most rural and remote areas are able to cash out or even buy commodities using Airtel money.

“By the close of last year, we were on seating at 200 thousand active customers but now we are seating 500 active customers, countrywide we were on 600 thousand but now we have hit a million so you can see the magnitude at which this service is growing. People have found convenience in using Airtel money, paying their bills, buying airtime without necessarily searching for scratch cards and transacting in all sorts of business,” said Matseketsa.

The telephone service providers have also linked the Airtel money system with several top banks in the country which is making it possible for their customers to transact from their bank accounts using their mobile phones.

“We have also integrated with a few banks and using the same system, users are able to check their bank accounts and conveniently transact from the comfort of their homes, banks close but Airtel money does not close,” he said.

The Country Director, however, did accept the surprise at the speed on how the service has grown since it was a new concept altogether by the time it was being introduced.

“As a strategy, we had the hope and optimism but the magnitude that we have reached at this stage we did not anticipate but we planned for it in terms of the seating, we even went on to change our platform so that we increase the capacity which is working perfectly well. It is all robust and stable and it does not go down anyhow therefore able to handle any number of customers,” said Matseketsa.

Currently Airtel Malawi is going around the country doing educational campaigns to create a platform for its customers to appreciate the conveniences that Airtel money is providing so that they can adopt it.