Press Corp ‘war’: National Bank, TNM collide on mobile charges in Malawi

In a more like case of children of the same father fighting to get recognition, telecommunication giant TNM has withdrawn from National Bank of Malawi (NBM) mobile phone platform after disagreements on charges. Both companies are subsidiaries of conglomerate Press Corporation Limited (PCL).

NBM has been flighting radio adverts that starting at noon Tuesday, June 9, 2015, its mobile phone transaction platform Mo626 will only be on Airtel for free and not TNM.

Insiders said the bone of contention is the charges that TNM wanted NBM to be charging its customers of up to K30 per session. Initially, customers were paying nothing to access the facility.

“I think TNM are being greedy, they cannot just wake up and start charging people K30 per session,” said an NBM official who did not want to be named.

NBM Head of Strategy, Marketing and Corporate Affairs Wilkins Mijiga confirmed that TNM is no longer on their platform as of noon on June 9, 2015 but declined to give more details.

“Please note that Mo626 will not be available on TNM from 12 noon of today, 9th June 2015. The service is still available on Airtel for free,” said Mijiga.

TNM Public Relations and Sponsorship Manager Limbani Nsapato could not be reached for comment.

Both companies belong to PCL and of late NBM has been contributing billions of kwachas to its shareholders than TNM.

PCL officials were also not available for comment.

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