The Cooperative Bank of Kenya has removed charges on airtime purchases through Mco-op after uproar from the members of the public.
The offer is for all airtimes below sh100, to relief thousands of customers who took to social media complaining about inflated cost.
It offers a reprieve to Before the removal, customers buying Sh10 airtime were deducted Sh10 (bank charges) and Sh2 (excise duty).
For instance, customers buying airtime worth Sh10 ended up paying an extra Sh12, which is more than a half of the airtime value.
Now, airtime ranging between Sh101-150 will apply a Sh5 charge while Sh501 and above, Sh40.
High charges come after MPs increased excise duty on airtime and data to 20 percent from 15 percent, which is expected to earn the Government Sh8 billion from operators such as Safaricom, Telkom and Airtel.
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On March 16, 2020, the Government waived charges as part of an emergency plan to encourage mobile money transaction at the height of Covid-19 pandemic.
“The revised maximum charges for transfers from bank accounts to mobile money wallets will be reduced by on average up to 61 percent, and mobile money wallet to bank account by on average up to 47 percent,” the regulator said earlier.
“Tariffs for paybills that are used to collect and disburse funds by businesses, companies and institutions will be reduced on average 50 percent while charges levied by banks for banks to mobile money transactions will be reduced by on average 45 percent,” it added.
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