Mobile money banking in Uganda has matured beyond proof-of-concept stage to mainstream adoption. The current mobile money penetration in Uganda was at 24.5 million registered subscribers as of the 3rd quarter of 2018, which is more of the population of Uganda.
The industry is so lucrative that most mobile telecom networks have the service.In 2013/2014 financial year, 22.2 trillion shillings (about $8.5 billion) was transacted through the mobile money system. However, this has also attracted government tax on mobile money transactions to the tune of 10%.
Mobile money providers in Uganda
Of the six mobile telecom providers in Uganda which include MTN, Airtel, Africell/Orange, Smart, Vodafone and Uganda Telecom, only 4 of them offer mobile money services. Smart Telecom is rumored to launch its Mobile money service mid this year while Vodafone hasn’t yet announced such plans.
The mobile money networks are trading with the following mobile money brands;
MTN Uganda –> MTN Mobile money
Airtel Uganda –> Airtel Money
Africell/Orange –> Africell Money
Uganda Telecom –> M-Sente
Transactions of mobile money
Mobile money allows registered customers can send money to other registered users on the same network or unregistered users or to users on other networks. The platform also enables users to initiate person-to-business transactions such as buying for utilities and goods and services.
Each of those types of transactions attracts varies charges across the different networks. The networks have structured their tariffs in such a way that there’s really no big margin in what each of them charges users.
Now let’s dive into mobile money rates across mobile network providers in Uganda. Keep in mind though that these charges change over time. These figures are obtained from the respective providers’ websites at the time of writing this post.
Mobile money charges send to registered users
MTN mobile money charges slightly more than Airtel money, M-Sente or Africell money when you want to send mobile money to other registered users. Now that’s not a surprise since MTN Uganda has the most number of mobile money subscribers while Africell money which has the least subscribers equally charges the least amount of money. Airtel money and Uganda Telecom’s (UTL) M-Sente offer similar rates.
On a general basis though, the networks punish you for sending small amounts of money. For instance, MTN charges Ugx 500 if you sent Ugx 500 which is 100% charge on transaction well as if you Ugx 250,000 they would charge only Ugx 1,400 which is a mere 0.56%. Therefore you are wiser sending larger sums of money at once.
So here’s the list again of mobile money providers in the ascending order of charges
-> Africell money
-> Airtel Money/M-Sente (tie)
-> MTN mobile money
| Mobile money charges for sending money to registered users in Uganda | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amount (UGX) | MTN Mobile Money | Airtel Money | Africell Money | M-Sente |
| 500 - 2,500 | 250 | 250 | No charge | 450 |
| 2,501 - 5,000 | 500 | 500 | No charge | 450 |
| 5,001- 15,000 | 1,000 | 1,000 | No charge | 1,000 |
| 15,001 - 30,000 | 1,000 | 1,000 | No charge | 1,000 |
| 30,001 - 45,000 | 1,000 | 1,000 | No charge | 1,000 |
| 45,001 - 60,000 | 1,000 | 1,000 | No charge | 1,000 |
| 60,001 -125,000 | 1,500 | 1,500 | No charge | 1,000 |
| 125,001 - 250,000 | 1,500 | 1,500 | No charge | 1,000 |
| 250,001 -500,000 | 1,500 | 1500 | No charge | 1,000 |
| 500,001 - 1,000,000 | 2,000 | 2,000 | No charge | 2,300 |
| 1,000,000-2,000,000 | 2,000 | 2,000 | No charge | 2,300 |
| 2,000001-4,000,000 | 2,000 | 2,000 | No charge | 2,300 |
| 4,000,000-5,000,000 | 2,000 | 2,000 | ||
| 5,000,000- 7,000,000 | 2,000 | |||
Mobile money charges for sending money to unregistered users and to other networks
Mobile money allows sending money to unregistered mobile phone users or to other networks. Uganda Telecom has no charges in this category or at least the charges aren’t present on their website. Again Africell money comes off as the cheapest option here which leaves the battle to MTN mobile money and Airtel money. MTN mobile money rates for sending to other networks and unregistered users are slightly lower than Airtel money for smaller transactions though they even out as larger amounts of money are exchanged.
That’s not surprising because MTN has the largest number of mobile money subscribers. Therefore it has more in-network transactions than Airtel that has to incur more costs in cross-network transactions.
So here’s the list again of mobile money providers in the ascending order of charges
-> Africell money
-> MTN Money Mobile
-> Airtel money
| Mobile money charges for sending money to unregistered users & to other networks in Uganda | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Amount (UGX) | MTN Mobile Money | Airtel Money | Africell Money |
| 500 - 2,500 | 830 | 1,000 | 880 |
| 2,501 - 5,000 | 940 | 1,000 | 880 |
| 5,001- 15,000 | 1,880 | 2,000 | 1,900 |
| 15,001 - 30,000 | 1,880 | 2,200 | 1,900 |
| 30,001 - 60,000 | 2,310 | 2,800 | 2,800 |
| 60,001 -125,000 | 3,325 | 4,400 | 4,200 |
| 125,001 - 250,000 | 4,975 | 8,400 | 7,700 |
| 250,001 - 500,000 | 7,175 | 11,000 | 11,000 |
| 500,001 - 1,000,000 | 12,650 | 21,000 | 21,000 |
| 1,000,001-2,000,000 | 22,000 | 40,000 | 38,000 |
| 2,000,001 - 4,000,000 | 37,400 | 70,500 | |
| 2,000,001 - 4,000,000 | 37,400 | 70,500 | |
| 4,000,001 - 5,000,000 | 55,000 | 70,500 | |
| 5,000,001 - 7,000,000 | 55,000 | ||
Mobile money charges for withdrawing money from an agent
Registered mobile money users pay a charge for withdrawing money from Mobile money agents, which varies depending on the amount they are withdrawing. However, a non registered user does not incur any withdraw charges since these are catered for by the sender.
Africell money again charges the least of all the four providers seconded by Airtel money. Which leaves MTN mobile money and Uganda Telecom’s M-Sente to compete for the third position. Now it’s noting that MTN has far more agents spread across the country than Uganda telecom(UTL) which makes one wonder what edge UTL has over MTN.
Anyway M-Sente charges slightly more than MTN Mobile money for smaller transactions while MTN edges out on UTL as the the transactions become bigger.
So here’s the list again of mobile money providers in the ascending order of charges
-> Africell money
-> Airtel Money
-> MTN mobile money
-> M-Sente
| Mobile money charges for withdrawing money from an agent in Uganda | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amount (UGX) | MTN Mobile Money | Airtel Money | M-Sente | Africell Money |
| 500 - 2,500 | 330 | 330 | 345 | 250 |
| 2,501 - 5,000 | 440 | 440 | 460 | 300 |
| 5,001 - 15,000 | 700 | 700 | 920 | 800 |
| 15,001 - 30,000 | 880 | 880 | 920 | 820 |
| 30,001 - 45,000 | 1,210 | 1,210 | 1,150 | 1,100 |
| 45,001 - 60,000 | 1,500 | 1,500 | 1,150 | 1,100 |
| 60,001 - 125,000 | 1,925 | 1,925 | 1,840 | 1,300 |
| 125,001 - 250,000 | 3,575 | 3,575 | 3,450 | 2,560 |
| 250,001 - 500,000 | 7,000 | 7,000 | 5,750 | 4,360 |
| 500,001 - 1,000,000 | 12,500 | 12,500 | 10,350 | 8,500 |
| 1,000,001 - 2,000,000 | 19,800 | 19,800 | 18,400 | 15,440 |
| 2,000,001 - 3,000,000 | 35,200 | 35,200 | 34,500 | |
| 3,000,001 - 4,000,000 | 35,200 | 35,200 | 34,500 | |
| 4,000,001 - 5,000,000 | 49,500 | 49,500 | ||
| 5,000,001 - 7,000,000 | 49,500 | |||
Mobile money charges for paying for goods and services
When it comes to paying for paying for goods and services supported on mobile money platforms, M-Sente comes off as the most the most expensive platform for very unclear reasons. MTN Mobile Money and Airtel go toe-to-toe on this while Africell money once again comes off with the least charges.
–> Africell money
–> MTN Mobile money/Airtel money(tie)
–> M-Sente
| Mobile money charges for paying for goods & services in Uganda | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amount (UGX) | MTN Mobile Money | Airtel Money | M-Sente | Africell Money |
| 500 - 2,500 | 110 | 120 | 180 | 110 |
| 2,500 - 5,000 | 140 | 140 | 300 | 150 |
| 5,001 - 15,000 | 500 | 500 | 900 | 300 |
| 15,001 - 30,000 | 500 | 500 | 1,500 | 450 |
| 30,001 - 45,000 | 500 | 500 | 1,500 | 500 |
| 45,001 - 60,000 | 550 | 550 | 1,500 | 500 |
| 60,0001 - 125,000 | 660 | 660 | 1,500 | 600 |
| 125,001 - 250,000 | 950 | 950 | 2,500 | 900 |
| 250,001 - 500,000 | 1,250 | 1,250 | 2,500 | 1,250 |
| 500,001 - 1,000,000 | 3,200 | 3,200 | 2,500 | 2,500 |
| 1,000,001 - 2,000,000 | 5,500 | 5,500 | 2,500 | 3,500 |
| 2,000,000 - 5,000,000 | 10,000 | 10,000 | 2,500 | |
Mobile money charges for paying for utility bills
Mobile mobile users can pay for UMEME electricity bills, Water, Multiplex Parking, Pay TV, among other Utilities from their phones.
| Mobile money charges for Paying for Utility Bills in Uganda | ||
|---|---|---|
| Amount (UGX) | MTN mobile & Airtel Money | Africell money |
| 500 - 2,500 | 190 | 150 |
| 2,501 - 5,000 | 330 | 150 |
| 5,001- 30,000 | 1,000 | 400 |
| 30,001 - 60,000 | 1,600 | 400 |
| 60,001 - 125,000 | 2,000 | 400 |
| 125,001 - 250,000 | 2,650 | 400 |
| 250,001 - 500,000 | 3,500 | 400 |
| 500,001 - 1,000,000 | 3,950 | 400 |
| 1,000,001 - 2,000,000 | 5,050 | 800 |
| 2,000,001 - 3,000,000 | 10,700 | 1,000 |
| 3,000,001 - 4,000,000 | 20,500 | 2,000 |
| 4,000,001 - 5,000,000 | 40,000 | |
Mobile money charges for withdrawing money from an ATM
The mobile networks have partnered with traditional banks to allow withdraw of their customers’ funds from their ATM machines. Africell money doesn’t seem to support the service since it’s not included in their tariff guide which leaves with only 3 providers.
Airtel money charges the least rates on withdrawing cash from ATM, the M-Sente and lastly MTN Mobile money in that order. So here’s the list
–> Airtel Money
–> M-Sente
–> MTN Mobile money
| Mobile money charges for withdrawing money from ATM in Uganda | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Amount (UGX) | MTN Mobile Money | Airtel Money | M-Sente |
| 5000 | 500 | ||
| 5,001- 30,000 | 1100 | 1,000 | 1,000 |
| 30,001 - 60,000 | 1,320 | 1,200 | 1,300 |
| 60,001 -125,000 | 2,035 | 1,850 | 2,000 |
| 125,001 - 250,000 | 3,795 | 3,450 | 3,500 |
| 250,001 -500,000 | 6,325 | 5,750 | 6,000 |
| 500,001 - 1,000,000 | 11,385 | 10,350 | 11,000 |
| 1,000,001-2,000,000 | 20,000 | ||
| 2,000,001- 4,000,000 | 35,000 | ||
| 4,000,000 and above | 50,000 | ||
Additional information
| Mobile money Uganda additional transaction costs and info | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MTN Mobile money | Airtel money | M-Sente | Africell money | |
| Registration | Free | Free | Free | |
| Deposit | Free | Free | Free | |
| Balance check | Free | Free | Free | |
| Mini-Statement | Free | 50 | Free | |
| PIN change | Free | 50 | Free | |
| Buying Airtime | Free | Free | Free | |
| Additional info (in Ugx) | ||||
| Mininum transaction limit | 500 | 500 | ||
| Daily maximum transaction limit | 4,000,000 | 5,000,000 | ||
| Minimum account balance | 0 | 0 | ||
| Maximum account balance | 5,000,000 | 5,000,000 | ||
If you have any corrections to the information presented here, please let us know in the comments below
Links
MTN Uganda mobile money rates
M-Sente rates
Airtel Money rates
Africell Money
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Then how much should it cost me to send money to my bank account
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