Mobile life insurance product being rolled out in Africa

Published on 27 September 2010

by In-house Staff Reporter

IT Web recently reported that Namibian based micro insurance and micro finance providers Trustco Group Holdings is partnering with African cellular companies to roll out free life cover with prepaid airtime.

Given the market penetration of cellular phone technologies in Africa, the mobile life cover offering has already gained significant traction in countries such as Namibia. The product will have the hallmarks of a pay as you go service, being valid for 30 days, with prepaid cellular users remaining covered as long as they top up within this period.

According to the company's Managing Director, Quinton van Rooyen, the Trustco Mobile idea utilises cellular companies' existing network infrastructure and user bases.

"When a subscriber loads airtime onto their cellphones they get an SMS notification to inform them that they qualify for a certain amount of life insurance. They can then opt to take the insurance cover and register via the cellphone or ignore it," said van Rooyen.

This mobile life insurance product has already been tested and rolled out in Namibia in partnership with Powercom, a company that trades as Cell One. More than 250 000 users have taken advantage of this short-term life cover since its launch in March 2008.

The life insurance cover is 100 times the value of the airtime purchased, and remains valid for a period of 30 days. According to Van Rooyen, "underwriting of pre-existing conditions will be extended for a further period of 30 days subject thereto that the subscriber renews his or her subscription for that period."

Trustco plans to roll out this platform in Lesotho, Botswana Zambia and Burundi, amongst other markets, but presently not in South Africa.

Read more South African life insurance news articles here.

Resource: IT Web