Africa: Mobile Money Transfer Goes a Notch Higher
By Nicholas Tago
Mobile money transfer has been made easier across 21 countries in the continent following a partnership deal between Africa’s leading mobile operator, MTN and Western Union. The partnership deal allows MTN subscribers to carry out Western Union money transfer services from their MTN Mobile Money accounts. The partnership deal comes hot on the heels of a similar one signed in Kenya between Equity Bank and Telkom Kenya/Orange.
In the MTN-Western Union deal, Uganda will be the first beneficiary, as MTN’s MobileMoney service already has 1 million registered customers there.
The service will first be introduced in Uganda, where MTN’s MobileMoney service already boasts over 1 million registered users, making it one of the most successful mobile wallet deployments in the world. The World Bank estimates that Uganda receives nearly US$500 million in remittances every year, making up 3 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic product (GDP).
Upon activation of the new international remittance service, MTN subscribers registered for MobileMoney will be able to receive Western Union Money Transfer transactions in their mobile accounts. In addition, MobileMoney users in certain countries will be able to send Western Union Money Transfer transactions directly from their mobile phones for payout at one of Western Union’s 386,000 Agent locations in 200 countries and territories around the world.
The good news is that MTN subscribers who receive a Western Union Money Transfer transaction in their MobileMoney account s will be able to use the funds to pay bills, top-up airtime, send money domestically and internationally, or withdraw cash at MobileMoney Agents or any participating ATM.
“The Western Union Mobile Money Transfer service is a key part of our multi-channel strategy to offer our consumers numerous ways to send and receive money,” said Khalid Fellahi, Western Union’s Head of Mobile Transaction Services. “This alliance with MTN – one of the world’s most successful mobile operators – will introduce cross-border remittances to an entirely new segment of customers by allowing them to send and receive money using just their mobile phones.”
MTN’s MobileMoney service is currently available in Benin, Cameroon, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Ivory Coast, Rwanda, South Africa and Uganda, with pilots underway in several other markets. Western Union offers the Mobile Money Transfer service in the Philippines with Smart Communications and Globe Telecom; in Kenya with Safaricom; and in Malaysia with Maxis. The company also recently announced an agreement with EnStream in Canada and State Bank of India in India and has other agreements for Mobile Money Transfer with banks in Tunisia, Libya and South Africa.