Land owners in Tanzania can now channel the payment of their bills via Airtel Tanzania – mobile money platform – Airtel Money.
The partnership was officiated on September 9th, in Tanzania’s capital , Dodoma by the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Settlement Development, Hon. William Lukuvi and Airtel Tanzania Corporate Communications and Regulatory Affairs Director, Beatrice Singano.
Airtel Tanzania which holds over 11 million customers which translates to 26 per cent of subscription market share, will be offering seamless utility services on land bills payment to millions of landowners across Tanzania via mobile phones.
Further, the telecommunications firm has been garnering billions from its platform Airtel Money which has more than 4.19 million accounts national wide, equivalent to 18 percent of the market share, revealed by Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority, latest statistics.
The partnership comes at a time when the government is pushing for more efforts to harmonize various operations in the sector, which was previously featured with stressful bureaucracy and corruption.
Hence, Minister of Lands, eyes the new partnership as another win for both landowners and government particularly which owns 49 percent of shares in Airtel Tanzania.
“I would like to inform you, that today, Airtel Money has partnered with us in paying yearly land bills, they are here to officiate that service. Any airtel money subscriber can now pay land bills and other fees as charged by the Ministry of Lands,” said the minister during a media briefing.
Tanzania has ushered a new wave of operations in respective to the land sector, whereby Minister of Lands, highlighted during a parliamentary session in May, that in the financial year 2019/2020 the ministry has allocated over $27.2 million, while on the same not pointing out, that: over $78 million in tax, fees and other related charges in the sector.
The Minister also took the liberty to give a quick payment guide before the media and other guests, insisting all citizens with land titles to get versed with mobile phone bills payment platforms primarily Airtel Money.
On the same note, Ms. Singano brought-forth, Airtel Tanzania’s aspirations to propel further government initiatives via their robust telecom services.
“We have been doing several initiatives in support of government efforts, hence ensuring many Tanzanians pay their bills via mobile phones platforms” Ms. Singano added.
And yet, the government of Tanzania, via the Ministry of Lands has been experiencing hardship in notifying land-owners bill payment schedules, whereby the entire process is being done physically, door by door, thus the Minister urged mobile network providers to assist the government in reaching more people via their rich telecom services.
Minister Lukuvi, commented that in pursuit of a reliable manner to notify citizens land bills payment, the government looks forward producing a special ad, that reminds citizens on their due land payments, which will be circulated to mobile network operators national wide, in order for it to reach their respective subscribers timely.
In that context, the Ministry intends to register new 150,000 title deeds in 2019, cited by a local media outlet. Still, both parties stand to fetch billions as telecom services expand in Tanzania, with a promising penetration of 81 percent and 23 percent internet, the Government E-payment Gateway(GePG) stand to experience significant improvement over time and space.