SIMO does not know when its Mozambique ATM network will be operational again

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SIMO does not know when its Mozambique ATM network will be operational again

1:37 CAT | 19 Nov 2018

Picture: Jornal Domingo

The SIMO/Interbancos Company of Mozambique says that it does not know when its network of ATMs and point-of-sale (POS) technology, which has been down since Friday, will be operational again.

“It is difficult to know for sure when everything will be ready, but we are doing our best to resolve the matter quickly,” Gertrudes Tovela, Chairman of Simo’s Board of Directors, told a press conference in Maputo.

Solutions were being studied that could either come into effect this Monday or could not, she added.

ATMs and payment terminals (POSs) on the Simo network have been down country-wide since Friday.

Bank cards also stopped working abroad, some users told Lusa.

Millenium Bim dedit cards, ATMs and POS technology are unaffected, since they use another network.

According to Gertrudes Tovela, the blackout was due to the misunderstandings of SIMO with the company that manages the transactions.

“The system is unavailable because we do not accept the conditions imposed by the software provider,” she said, without mentioning the company by name.

She said that the service provider was imposing conditions that SIMO considered “unsustainable”, and that were in conflict with Mozambican “state sovereignty”, adding that SIMO did not owe the service provider any money.

Among the key requirements, the chairperson of SIMO’s board of directors highlighted a contractual clause that prevents it from using other systems.

“We know this is having an impact domestically, but it would be worse if we agreed. We do not know how long this blackmail might continue,” she said.

SIMO is 51% owned by the Bank of Mozambique, the rest of the shares being held by various Mozambican commercial banks.

Source: Lusa