Equity Bank has today launched its thin SIM card, which will be used by placing it on top of another existing SIM card.
Equity Bank CEO James Mwangi announced that they will be targeting telecoms to compete on data, SMS, voice and all levels of money transfer, the Nation reports.
On the Equitel mobile service, voice communications will cost Sh4 across all networks and one shilling for SMS, while mobile money transfer services will be free.
Capital FM reports that the thin SIM will start with the prefix of 0764, after the bank hit one million users under the 0763 prefix during the pilot project, which was on the normal SIM cards.
The new SIM card will go for Sh600 while the other normal cards will be issued for free.
The Equitel service will be operating under a network supported by Airtel infrastructure.
The launch of the card comes as a reprieve to the bank after a long court battle in which the safety of the card was being challenged.
Safaricom had challenged the SIM, noting that placing it on top of another SIM would interfere with privacy.
However, Equity Bank won the battle after being cleared by the High Court in May this year.
This new move is seen as the latest challenge brought to Safaricom’s doorstep.
Safaricom is facing strong headwinds both from the regulator and competition.
The competitors are calling on the regulator to declare Safaricom a dominant player in the telecommunication sector.
