BTC Smega’s revenues rise 150%
Mbongeni Mguni | Tuesday September 6, 2022 06:00
Smega was relaunched in May 2019 at which point it had just 240 subscribers, compared to market leaders, Orange Money and Mascom’s MyZaka which by then had 751,974 and 397,459 subscribers respectively.
Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority (BOCRA) statistics indicate that as at March this year, Smega was still trailing the market, but had improved to 144,508 subscribers, compared to 895,824 for Orange Money and 611,550 for MyZaka.
In a commentary accompanying the group’s 2022 Annual Report released on Friday, BTCL chair, Lorato Boakgomo-Ntakhwana said the relaunched mobile money product was being well-received by the market, as seen in the growth in the subscriber base.
“In addition to what the competitor mobile money services offer, Smega is being positioned to do much more in order to conquer new customers,” she said.
BTCL managing director, Anthony Masunga said after the addition of the VISA card service to Smega, more add-ons were planned to enhance usability for customers.
“More services are constantly being added on to the service to augment the card, as well as to continue to bring financial services to various citizens, including the unbanked members of our communities,” he said. “Smega is able to interact with traditional banking systems, which brings about more convenience to our customers.”
Smega’s contribution, while dwarfed by BTCL’s other revenue lines, was among the few growth areas for the group in the year to March 2022. BTCL recorded revenue drops across fixed voice and mobile, while fixed data grew by 0.9 percent during the year.
Smega’s revenues, by comparison, grew by 150%.
“The introduction of the Visa card on the BTC Smega wallet further drove uptake,” officials stated in the Annual Report. “Since it was introduced in July 2020, the Visa card is the leading transactional activity on the wallet. “BTC Smega has positioned BTC to support and enable the government’s call for financial inclusion of those who, until now, have not had access to traditional banking services due to the high costs of maintaining and operating a bank account. “Our customers in both rural and urban areas have been empowered to participate in the growth of our economy through mobile money services.”