Edith, <div><br></div><div>Some years ago, I made my daily bread designing mobile banking products for Cellulant, one of which was the 'Transfer to MPESA' service from your bank account and reverse, and I had a look at this particular option. It would be possible, technologically, but the business case and amount of reconciliation that would be required makes it unlikely that Safaricom will do it. </div>
<div><ol><li>Airtime is booked by Safaricom as sales and contributes to revenues, while MPESA float is money that Safaricom holds on your behalf and only charges you a small portion when you transact. Transferring to MPESA would technically be a refund to you of money that Safaricom may have already paid out a commission to distributors of, say, 10%. They would need to charge you, say 25%, to recoup their commission and make 15% on the money that you are transferring.</li>
<li>While they register the sale when you actually use the airtime <i>(or should anyway -this is Safaricom)</i> the ways in which you can use airtime is limited - call, text, data, or transfer - all from which Safaricom makes substantial margins. Your airtime in its entirety is for Safaricom to ' take ' in the delivery of their service. Transferring airtime to MPESA would mean that Safaricom only takes a small portion of the total volume as charges that may need to be split with agents, rather than taking all of it, which would be more profitable for them. </li>
<li>On the reconciliation side: For all the transactions that MPESA handles, there is usually very little in terms of actual cash movement. To create MPESA float, an equivalent sum must have been received by the trustee bank, CBA. One reason, to ensure that Safaricom is not 'creating money'. In the airtime-MPESA transfer, Safaricom would be required to transfer cash from its sales account, to the MPESA account, and that would possibly need to be done before they could create the float. That transfer would need to reflect on all other records - from airtime sales to cash in bank. </li>
</ol><div>There would need to be very, very many people using the service for it to make sense for Safaricom. </div><div>--</div><div><font color="#333399">Joel Macharia</font><div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><font color="#333399">mobile</font><font color="#ff0000">::</font> <font color="#000099">+254 712 210 600</font></div>
<div>on <a href="http://twitter.com/themacharia" target="_blank">twitter</a><font size="1"> </font><font color="#ff0000">|<font size="1"> </font></font><font color="#000099">on <a href="http://ke.linkedin.com/in/joelmacharia/" target="_blank">linkedin</a></font></div>
<div><a href="http://www.macharia.co.ke/" target="_blank">www.macharia.co.ke</a></div></div></div></div><div><br></div><div>--</div><div><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Mar 12, 2013 at 5:40 PM, Edith Adera <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:eadera@idrc.ca" target="_blank">eadera@idrc.ca</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div lang="EN-CA" link="blue" vlink="purple">
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d">Brian,<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d">I’ve checked their service, it’s done at a huge premium of 35% cost!! and no guarantee that money will be sent to me unless they have proven reputation.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d">Safaricom should tell us if they have anything in the works?<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d">Edith<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"">From:</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif""> kictanet [mailto:<a href="mailto:kictanet-bounces%2Beadera" target="_blank">kictanet-bounces+eadera</a>=<a href="mailto:idrc.ca@lists.kictanet.or.ke" target="_blank">idrc.ca@lists.kictanet.or.ke</a>]
<b>On Behalf Of </b>Brian Ngure<br>
<b>Sent:</b> March 12, 2013 5:25 PM</span></p><div class="im"><br>
<b>To:</b> Edith Adera<br>
<b>Cc:</b> KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [kictanet] Safaricom<u></u><u></u></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">There is a company that does this: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Peoples-Market-Kenya-PMK/358014810880759" target="_blank">
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Peoples-Market-Kenya-PMK/358014810880759</a><u></u><u></u></p>
</div><div><div class="h5">
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">See also this thread: <a href="http://www.kenyaplex.com/discussionforum/12438-transferring-money-from-airtime-to-mpesa.aspx" target="_blank">
http://www.kenyaplex.com/discussionforum/12438-transferring-money-from-airtime-to-mpesa.aspx</a><u></u><u></u></p>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">On Tue, Mar 12, 2013 at 5:05 PM, Odhiambo Washington <<a href="mailto:odhiambo@gmail.com" target="_blank">odhiambo@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><u></u> <u></u></p>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">On 12 March 2013 16:20, Edith Adera <<a href="mailto:eadera@idrc.ca" target="_blank">eadera@idrc.ca</a>> wrote:<u></u><u></u></p>
<div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">Listers,<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It just occurred to me to ask if anyone knows whether you can convert airtime to mpesa money and effect a transfer via mpesa?<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">If not, has Safaricom thought of this innovation?<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#888888"> <u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#888888">Edith
<u></u><u></u></span></p>
</div>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><br>
Hi Edith,<u></u><u></u></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br>
A previous discussion by techies somehow came to a consensus that it is close to impossible/untenable:<br>
<br>
<a href="http://orion.my.co.ke/pipermail/skunkworks/2012-September/070111.html" target="_blank">http://orion.my.co.ke/pipermail/skunkworks/2012-September/070111.html</a>
<u></u><u></u></p>
</div>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#888888"><br>
<br>
<span>-- </span><br>
<span>Best regards,</span><br>
<span>Odhiambo WASHINGTON,</span><br>
<span>Nairobi,KE</span><br>
<span>+254733744121/+254722743223</span><br>
<span>_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ </span><br>
<span>I can't hear you -- I'm using the scrambler.</span><br>
</span><br>
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The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.<br>
<br>
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</blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><font color="#333399">Joel Macharia</font><div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><font color="#333399">mobile</font><font color="#ff0000">::</font> <font color="#000099">+254 712 210 600</font></div>
<div>on <a href="http://twitter.com/themacharia" target="_blank">twitter</a><font size="1"> </font><font color="#ff0000">|<font size="1"> </font></font><font color="#000099">on <a href="http://ke.linkedin.com/in/joelmacharia/" target="_blank">linkedin</a></font></div>
<div><a href="http://www.macharia.co.ke" target="_blank">www.macharia.co.ke</a></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div></div>
</div>