To step up the fight against COVID-19, Broadband Infraco has partnered with ItakaneICT on a strategic alliance to bring cashless money services to rural and disadvantaged communities.
Andrew Matseke, Chief Executive Officer for Broadband Infraco said the partnership will enable the deployment of payment platforms in rural communities and will help in dispensing and transacting financially without using physical cash.
As the lead agency for the deployment of SA Connect, Broadband Infraco will leverage its infrastructure and backbone capability already deployed in rural communities.
ItakaneICT, on the other hand, will use its platforms as mini ATM devices to drive cashless money services for rural communities.
Broadband Infraco’s partnership with ItakaneICT will immediately make technology and services available to enable debit and credit card payments, including SSD-ATM pre-payments, which are instrumental for social grant payments and spaza shop transactions.
Matseke said: “At Broadband Infraco I, we take pride in our social mandate and continuously look for ways in which we can use technology to improve the lives of our citizens. We are concerned about the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic within our country and we believe this partnership will help to contain the movement of rural citizens who must travel long distances in order to access and transact with cash.
“This strategic partnership also supports the government’s call for citizens to shop for goods from their nearest shop. Broadband Infraco is privileged to be able to contribute to this solution, which it believes will help to significantly contain the spread of new COVID-19 infections.”
Nathan Mariemuthu, ItakaneICT Chief Executive Officer, said: “This is really a crucial partnership as it reaches to the disadvantaged communities and actively introduces solutions for activating the rural economy. We could not have chosen a better partner as we have known the importance of Broadband Infraco in providing connectivity and fintech solutions to rural communities. This also speaks directly to our proposition as we are dependent on solid and cost-effective ICT infrastructure for our deployments.”
