EVC Outage Disrupts Payments Across Somalia

A temporary EVC Plus outage disrupted everyday payments in Somalia and affected people abroad sending money through linked services. The incident is a reminder that cash remains an important backup when mobile money systems fail.

**Mogadishu ( PP News ) **— For several hours, EVC mobile money payments remained out of service throughout Somalia. The technical glitch did not only affect consumers in Mogadishu and other parts of Somalia; it also affected Somalis in the diaspora, who wire money to Somalia via PaySii, which is partnered with Hormuud, the owner of EVC.

A rider of a Bajaj (tuk-tuk), who uses only the EVC payment system, was unable to pay the fare. The Bajaj driver had to allow the rider to get out of the vehicle without paying, in the hope that the rider would send the money through EVC when the mobile money payment system was back in service.

Shop assistants have begun to ask potential customers if they have alternative means of mobile money payment other than EVC. “Today, everyone in Mogadishu who uses EVC realises that using cash is not only important for the economy. It is a fall-back mechanism when technology malfunctions and affects payment systems. We need to begin to use cash. Cashless ecosystem in Somalia is risky,” an economist in Mogadishu told Puntland Post.

Although the use of other payment systems, such as EDAHAB and Premier Wallet, was not affected, they are as vulnerable to technical failure as EVC, the largest and most well-known mobile money payment system that benefits from the network effect of the Hormuud conglomerate.

The uncertainty surrounding mobile money systems in Somalia has grown. Consumers say, “We don’t have money; we have air in our mobile phones,” in reference to mobile money on their mobile phones, which they cannot access when the system fails due to technical issues. EVC is now back in service.