TECH DIGGING DEEP INTO PEOPLE’S POCKETS: ZAMA

A modern BlackBerry phone can be used for banking services. Photo credit: Telegraph UK.

A modern BlackBerry phone can be used for banking services. Photo credit: Telegraph UK.

The Honiara City Councilor for Vavaya Ridge Ward in Central Honiara, Jonathan Zama says new telecommunications technologies such as mobiles and mobile banking are digging deep into people’s pockets.

He says mobile phones are convenient but at the same time they are very expensive.

Mr Zama says imagine a family of six whose members all have a mobile each and have to pay 10-dollars of top-up a day.

He says the family spends 60-dollars a day on mobiles only but on top of that they have to meet the cost of having at least two meals a day.

Mr Zama says mobile banking is also very convenient, but it is also expensive because the owners will meet bank and telekom charges.

He says the message he wants to share is the beneficiaries are the National Provident Fund, which holds a shareholding with Solomon Telekom and the banks.

Councilor Zama says NPF members who use mobiles also benefit, but he believes mobile subscribers from villages throughout Solomon Islands who are not contributors are not benefiting other than from the use of the service.

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