Mobile Money: Businesses, individuals speak out on recent disruptions

Moise Nzeyimana, a taxi driver in Kigali, says he lost nearly Rwf 60,000 due to the recent mobile money disruptions that were experienced in the country. Since mobile money is the primary payment method for his taxi service, the outages significantly impacted his ability to serve customers. ALSO READ: Going paperless: How much could Rwanda save? Nzeyimana is just one of many affected by the disruptions which occurred on the morning of Tuesday, September 3, and the evening of Thursday, August 29. While some businesses found ways of dealing with the issues by for instance allowing customers to pay later, others chose not to serve clients unless they had cash on hand. We had to give up, and many customers remained with their money, Nzeyimana lamented. Such frustration was echoed by more people. “You should pay a lot of attention to this matter! If we have been trained on cashless systems and understand them, why don't you also recognise that it has become a part of our lives and take proper care of it? Now, mobile money is like electricity or water,” one X user posted on the social media platform. ALSO READ: Rwanda launches electronic land titles to boost efficiency More people used social media platforms to share their frustration about failed payments or transfers of money from bank accounts to MoMo. MoMo issued a statement on X, saying the disruptions were due to technical problems that were being worked on. “Dear customers, please be informed that you may experience intermittent delays in accessing MoMo services. We regret the inconvenience this may cause. Our teams are working hard to fully restore the service,” the statement read, without divulging details regarding the technical issues. The New Times contacted the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA) for a comment on whether they were investigating the matter, but no response had been received by the time of publication. According to the Rwanda FinScope 2024 Survey, approximately 86 percent of Rwandans—equating to 6.9 million people — are using mobile money services in 2024. The survey highlighted significant growth in the number of adults holding registered mobile money accounts, which rose from 60 percent (4.3 million people) in 2020 to 77 percent (5.8 million people) in 2024. ALSO READ: Banks, govt must do more to achieve a cashless economy, experts say Published by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MINECOFIN) in collaboration with Access to Finance Rwanda (AFR), the National Bank of Rwanda (BNR), and the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR), the survey showed Rwanda's progress towards a cashless economy, driven by the widespread adoption of mobile financial services. Overall, the data revealed a substantial increase in the use of digital financial services, which surged from 30 percent (2.1 million people) to 73 percent (5.9 million people) between 2020 and 2024. The adoption of formal non-bank products and services, including mobile money, insurance, and pension products, has also seen significant growth, reaching 92 percent (7.5 million) in 2024, up from 75 percent (5.3 million) in 2020.

News

Mobile Money: Businesses, individuals speak out on recent disruptions