MTN Claims Their WhatsApp Recharge Bot, Is A World’s First. I’m Not Too Sure…

Today, MTN launched MTN Chat which allows subscribers to recharge airtime, get customer support, make balance enquiries and receive customised deals. Mybroadband claims that MTN described the bot as a first, which is a bit iffy if you ask me.

Well Techzim is selling airtime from all networks via WhatsApp using EcoCash. We are not saying we are first but clearly MTN is not first.

You may remember that Steward Bank a few weeks ago launched Sosholoza and that bot allows Zimbos on any network to recharge their airtime. The only difference between MTN’s Chat Bot and Sosholoza is that MTN subscribers will be able to buy data directly from the WhatsApp whilst on Sosholoza you can only buy airtime.

Maybe that’s the differentiator MTN is using to describe the bot they made in partnership with Clickatell as a first and if indeed that was the criteria they used then clearly they were clutching at anything that would make this service sound cooler.

Oh and maybe MTN didn’t bother to do their research and they actually don’t know that a company in one of their closest neighbours offers something pretty similar. Who knows?

Anyway, MTN has said they are working to bring MTN Chat to Facebook and similar platforms in the near future.

Steward BankSteward Bank Sosholoza

Steward Bank, is a commercial bank registered and trading in Zimbabwe. The bank is a subsidiary of the Econet Wireless Zimbabwe. It was founded in 2001 by Tawanda Nyambirai as TN Bank. Read More About Steward Bank

Sosholoza is a financial service by Steward Bank that works via WhatsApp. The service allows the bank’s customers to transfer money from any bank or mobile money wallet to any bank and any mobile wallet in Zimbabwe. It’s the first service in Zimbabwe to have… Read More About Steward Bank Sosholoza