www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Mobilink and Citibank Pakistan have inked an agreement to promote and facilitate the growth of mobile commerce in Pakistan. Under the agreement, Citi will utilize Mobilink’s extensive retail infrastructure to extend the reach of financial services to the previously un-reached masses starting initially at select pilot locations followed by nation-wide launch in line with State Bank of Pakistan’s guidelines.
Rashid Khan, President and CEO, Mobilink said, “89 percent of the people in Pakistan continue to remain un-served by traditional banking channels due to various limitations.”.
On 07.02.09, In Mobile, By Editor
On 02.18.09, In Mobile, By Editor
Oberthur Technologies, one of the leading suppliers of smart card based solutions, announced its selection by Zain Group to provide end-to-end security solutions for Mobile Commerce services, including security platform and SIM application for secure payment transactions. The solution was commercially launched by Zain under the name Zap to East Africa’s 100 million people. The service is immediately available to Zain customers in Kenya and Tanzania. Zap will be rolled across Africa and the Middle East throughout 2009.
Zain is partnering with leading international and regional banks to launch Zap, which will allow Zain customers to use their mobile phone to:
- Pay bills and pay for goods and services
- Receive money and send money to friends and family
- Send and receive money to the bank accounts
- Withdraw cash
- Top up their own airtime account or top up someone else’s
- Send airtime to Zain customers in East AfricaManage their bank accounts
The Zap service will also be included as part of Zain’s pioneering One Network service which allows travelling customers to move across geographic borders without roaming surcharges, recharge their mobile phones with locally purchased top up cards and receive calls for free.
The user interface is easy to use and has been customized for each Zain operator across the continent. Oberthur Technologies’ expertise both in mobile and in the banking environment combined with the capability to support Zain Group at both local and global level were key to succeeding in the implementation of this major secure solutions project.
“Zain is demonstrating its ambitious strategy to become one of the top ten leading telecom companies in the world. It was key for us to reward a long term partnership, involving Oberthur Technologies in this prestigious project. By enabling people to use their mobile phones as mobile wallets, we hope to deliver lasting benefits not just for our customers, but also for the economies of Africa.” said Chris Gabriel, CEO Zain Africa
“We are proud to participate in the deployment of such a new advanced secure technology in Africa and the Middle East. The Mobile Commercial Security solution introduced in the market by the Zain Group offers a new level of payment and banking services to customers, and we are very pleased to continue investment in new solutions which benefit the daily life of people in developing markets.” said Thierry Siminger, Russia, Middle-East and Africa Managing Director at the Card Systems Division of Oberthur Technologies.
About Zain
Zain is a leading emerging markets player in the field of telecommunications aiming to become one of the top ten mobile operators in the world by 2011. Zain was established in 1983 in Kuwait as the region’s first mobile operator. Since 2003, it has grown significantly becoming the 4th largest mobile network in the world in terms of geographic presence with a footprint in 22 countries spread across the Middle East and Africa providing mobile voice and data services to 56.3 million active customers (as at 30 September 2008).
Zain operates in the following countries: Bahrain, Burkina Faso, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Malawi, Madagascar, Niger, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. In Lebanon, the company manages the network on behalf of the government operating as mtc-touch.
The Zain brand is wholly owned by Mobile Telecommunications Company KSC, which is listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange. The company had a market capitalization of over US$ 23.4 billion on 30 September, 2008.
For more information, please visit http://www.zain.com or email info@zain.com.
About Oberthur Technologies
With sales of 879 million Euros in 2008, Oberthur Technologies is a world leader in the field of secure technologies. Innovation and high quality services ensure Oberthur Technologies’ strong positioning in its main target markets:
- Card Systems: One of the world’s leading providers of security and identification based on smart card technology and associated services for mobile, payment, transport, digital TV and convergence markets.
- Identity: International player for the manufacture and personalization of secure identity documents such as passport, identity card, driving license or health care card – traditional and electronic – and associated services for both governmental and corporate markets.
- Fiduciary printing: World’s third largest private security printer specialized in high security for the production of banknotes, checks and other fiduciary documents in more than fifty countries.
- Cash protection: World leader in the emerging market of intelligent systems to secure cash-in-transit and ATM.
On 01.12.09, In Mobile, By Editor
Sri Lanka has planned to issue new rules regarding the mobile banking as the mobile incumbents of the country are joining hands with various banks to offer new mobile banking initiatives.
“Given the increased usage of mobile phones for financial transactions, the Central Bank intends to issue new operating guidelines for mobile payments during 2009,” says Central Bank Governor Nivard Cabraal.
According to Cabraal, the move is a part of the overall effort to enhance the confidence in the mobile payments, which would also cover payment cards.
“The draft regulations on service providers of payment cards, giving specific powers to the Central Bank to regulate and supervise such service providers, would also be implemented to enhance the public confidence in electronic payments.” he added.
On 11.13.08, In Mobile, By Editor
Etisalat presented its latest innovations supporting mobile commerce at the Mobile Money Transfer Conference in Dubai (MMT08) .
Rashed Alabbar, Senior Manager, Product Marketing, eBusiness at Etisalat addressed the conference and said: “Mobile commerce has many applications for consumers and businesses alike. The ability to use your mobile device to buy products and services is convenient, secure and simple. Given the number of people who now own a SIM-enabled device, it is clear that the future of many industries will require a mobile commerce channel strategy.”
The latest World Bank figures quantify the current remittances market at $318bn, with informal transactions taking the total to close to $600bn. By 2030, the World Bank estimates the value will grow to a massive $72trillion.
Etisalat is pioneering mobile commerce services in the Middle East and has already announced trials to launch remittance services between the UAE and India and the UAE and the Philippines. Earlier this year, Etisalat introduced a pilot project with Emirates NBD to introduce Near Field Communications (NFC), which enables mobile phones to be used to buy products and services directly, without the need for cash.
For more information you can log on to www.etisalat.ae
About Wireless Federation
Wireless Federation is an industry research conglomerate headquartered in London, United Kingdom. The mandate of the Wireless Federation is to provide its members and customers industry knowledge that can further enhance their understanding of the wireless industry. Wireless Federation conducts bespoke research and produces boxed reports in collabaration with Industry Bodies, Telecom Operators for Issues that revolve around ARPU, CHURN and Loyalty.
They have been associated with more than 225 mobile operators globally to set their Pricing/ Tariff Strategies, Go-To-Market Strategies for Mobile Advertising, Mobile Payments, Cutting VAS among others amongst 59 countries globally.
For more information you can log on to www.wirelessfederation.com
On 11.04.08, In Mobile, By Editor
MasterCard proclaimed a service through which its users can pay for products with their cell phones. The company’s over-the-air provisioning service lets the card issuers transfer a PayPass application onto handsets that are equipped with Near Field Communication technology. After that customer can use this service as their payement account over a mobile network, and then buy products by swiping the phone near specially-equipped terminals.
The NFC technology facilitates contactless payements and it’s already in many mobile phones around the world. It is forecasted that up to one-third of all cell phones will be NFC-equipped in five years.
“At MasterCard, we are dedicated to the development of a sustainable mobile payments eco-system in which all of our customers and every major mobile player can participate,” said Art Kranzley, MasterCard’s chief emerging technology officer. “By managing the device personalization process for our customers from beginning to end, we are offering a service that is consistent with both customer demand for ease of implementation and consumer demand for ease of use,” Kranzley added.
However, Visa, the contender of MasterCard is also heading towards mobile market and it has been piloting mobile banking and payment services. Additionally, Visa partnered with Nokia to roll out a handset with NFC technology. The comapny said, it would develop applications for Google’s Android platform.
On 10.21.08, In Mobile, By Editor
The Western Union Company today announced that it has created an alliance with Orascom Telecom Holding S.A.E., one of the largest mobile operators in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
Orascom Telecom and Western Union plan to work together to introduce mobile remittance services in select markets. The services aim to make low-principal, high-frequency remittances more convenient to the millions of consumers who send money every day.
Orascom Telecom, which was established in 1998, operates six mobile networks with a combined total of 77 million subscribers, including Djezzy in Algeria, Mobilink in Pakistan, Mobinil in Egypt, Tunisiana in Tunisia, Banglalink in Bangladesh, and Telecel Zimbabwe in Zimbabwe. In addition, in early 2008, Orascom Telecom acquired a license in North Korea to operate mobile services.
“Orascom Telecom mobile networks are in areas with high populations of people who have limited access to financial services,” said Naguib Sawiris, Orascom Telecom Chairman and CEO. “We believe this alliance, supported by our current mobile subscribers throughout the Middle East, Africa and South Asia, presents an effortless method to bring financial services to many of the world’s families for the first time.”
Western Union, together with its affiliates Orlandi Valuta and Vigo, maintains the industry’s largest global money transfer Agent network with more than 355,000 locations in over 200 countries and territories.
“As the need for remittances continues to grow, so does the desire for new channels to conduct quick, convenient and affordable money transfers,” said Gail Galuppo, Western Union Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer. “Western Union is already offering this convenience with mobile money transfers from select locations, and we look forward to working with Orascom Telecom to offer this option to their subscribers in the future.”
Several of the countries where Orascom Telecom operates are among the top receivers of remittances in the world. For example, according to the World Bank, Bangladesh received US$6.6 billion in remittances in 2007; Pakistan received US$6.1 billion, and Egypt received US$5.9 billion.
The Western Union(R) mobile money transfer service is currently available from select Western Union Agent locations in the United States, the Middle East, Asia-Pacific and Europe to Globe Telecom and Smart Communications subscribers in the Philippines.
The mobile money transfer service connects mobile operators to Western Union’s trusted global “hub” for processing cross-border remittances. Once connected to Western Union’s service, mobile operators use their own “mobile wallet” software to enable person-to-person mobile money transfers over Western Union’s global remittance network. The Mobile Money Transfer service enables consumers to transfer money to or from mobile wallets and is being introduced into the global network of Western Union Agent locations for cash-to-mobile and mobile-to-cash transactions.
The agreement with Orascom Telecom is part of the pilot program of Western Union and the GSM Association, a global trade association representing over 750 GSM mobile phone operators, to facilitate the development of cross-border mobile money transfer services.
About The Western Union Company
The Western Union Company is a leader in global money-transfer services. Together with its affiliates, Orlandi Valuta and Vigo, Western Union provides consumers with fast, reliable and convenient ways to send and receive money around the world, as well as send payments and purchase money orders. It operates through a combined network of more than 355,000 Agent locations in over 200 countries and territories. Famous for its pioneering telegraph services, the original Western Union dates back to 1851. For more information, visit www.westernunion.com.
About Orascom Telecom
Orascom Telecom is a leading international telecommunications company operating GSM networks in six high growth markets in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia, having a total population under license of approximately 440 million with an average mobile telephony penetration of 44% as of June 30, 2008. Orascom Telecom had over 77 million subscribers as of June 30, 2008.
Orascom Telecom is controlled by Weather Investments S.p.a. which also owns Wind Telecomunicazioni S.p.a., Italy’s third largest mobile operator and second largest fixed-line operator, and Wind Hellas, the third largest mobile operator in Greece.
Orascom Telecom is traded on the Cairo & Alexandria Stock Exchange under the symbol; and on the London Stock Exchange, its GDR is traded under the symbol.
About Wireless Federation
Wireless Federation is an industry research conglomerate headquartered in London, United Kingdom. The mandate of the Wireless Federation is to provide its members and customers industry knowledge that can further enhance their understanding of the wireless industry. Wireless Federation conducts bespoke research and produces boxed reports in collabaration with Industry Bodies, Telecom Operators for Issues that revolve around ARPU, CHURN and Loyalty.
They have been associated with more than 225 mobile operators globally to set their Pricing/ Tariff Strategies, Go-To-Market Strategies for Mobile Advertising, Mobile Payments, Cutting VAS among others amongst 59 countries globally.
For more information you can log on to www.wirelessfederation.com
On 09.19.08, In Mobile, By Editor
Zambia National Commercial Bank (Zanco) has ease payement procedures for its account holders. Zanco launched a mobile banking service dubbed Xapit. This mobile banking service allows its customers to make payments via cell phone. Zanaco managing director Mark Weissing, said that the facility will initially be made available only to the bank’s customers but will later be extended to over 2 million people who have mobile phones but no bank accounts. Weissing further said that Xapit enables mobile bill payments, airtime purchases and fund transfers. Only Zain Zambia subscribers can avail this service. The motive to rollout this service is to improve the business activities of the bank and its customers.
For Best Practices/ Case Studies on Mobile Money – Banking, Remittances, Commerce & Payments. Please contact christina@wirelessfederation.com
On 06.26.08, In Mobile, By Editor
Mobile Money Ventures LLC (MMV), a joint venture of Citi and SK Telecom announced that its solution for mobile financial services is compatible with Android™, a software stack for mobile devices that includes an operating system, middleware and key applications. Google™ and other players have collaborated on the development of Android through the Open Handset Alliance, a multinational alliance of technology and mobile industry leaders. This offering will enable financial institutions and carriers to offer customers the ability to use a comprehensive set of mobile financial services on Android-powered mobile devices.
As mobile devices continue to get more sophisticated, financial institutions (FIs) and carriers have the opportunity to enhance customer loyalty and enrich customer experience by delivering innovative applications, such as mobile banking. The Android-compatible application developed by MMV is such an application. It allows FIs to deploy mobile banking applications quickly with a platform that allows end users to use their mobile device to pay, track and manage finances – and take advantage of vendor rewards programs created specifically for wireless users.
Using their Android-enabled mobile device, end users will be able to easily download the financial application that will enable them to transfer money, check their accounts, get branch information, and carry out a Person-to-Person (P2P) transfer. Users will also have access to a stock monitoring feature that allows for real-time trading, portfolio management, and real-time market information. Other features include tracking receipts and expenses and a variety of payment functions.
“We are working closely with our financial institution and mobile carrier customers to deliver a secure, customizable product that will get to market quickly – and help transform the customer’s experience,” said Steve Kietz, CEO of Mobile Money Ventures, and executive vice president of Growth Ventures and Innovation for Citi’s Global Consumer Group. ”Mobile banking will revolutionize the industry in the next few years much the way ATM machines did in the 1980s. By capturing the power of Google’s Android software, our mobile banking platform will set a high standard for this emerging use of wireless technology.”
MMV’s Android-compatible solution features:
* Banking: Provides money transfer, account balance inquiries, location of local branches, and P2P transfer using a mobile phone number instead of the account number.
* Account management: Provides support while users are on the move. Compared to online banking services, users can actively monitor their financial status without being tied to a computer terminal.
* Payment: A variety of payment functions are provided to users including card payment, NFC payment, remote payment and mobile wallet (m-wallet).
* Stock monitoring: Provides real-time stock trading functionalities, portfolio management and real-time market information via mobile devices.
* Track deals and rewards: A two-fold feature: on one side, customers can track receipts and expenses; on the other is a mobile phone-based couponing and reward program.
To see a demonstration of MMV’s Android application at the Mobile Commerce Summit on June 23-24 at Caesar’s Palace, Las Vegas, please attend Kietz’s presentation at the summit on “Mobility as Part of the Bank’s Overall Business Strategy,” from 9:15-10 a.m. on June 23.
Google and Android are trademarks of Google Inc. All company and product names may be trademarks of the companies with which they are associated.
About Citi
Citi, the leading global financial services company, has some 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 100 countries, providing consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, and wealth management. Citi’s major brand names include Citibank, CitiFinancial, Primerica, Smith Barney, Banamex, and Nikko. Additional information may be found at www.citigroup.com or www.citi.com.
About SK Telecom
SK Telecom (NYSE: SKM, KSE: 017670) is the top wireless communication provider in Korea, where it has more than 22 million subscribers taking up more than 50% of the total market. The company, established in 1984, reached KRW 11.28 trillion in revenue in 2007. SK Telecom was the first to launch and commercialized CDMA, CDMA 2001x,CDMA EV-DO and HSDPA networks, and it currently provides cellular, wireless internet, mobile media, global roaming service and more. For more information, please visit www.sktelecom.com.
For Best Practices/ Case Studies on Mobile Money – Banking, Remittances, Commerce & Payments. Please contact Christina@WirelessFederation.com
On 06.10.08, In Mobile, By Editor
Expectations for a rapid roll-out of mobile banking (or m-banking) services have been revived by the extraordinary success of Kenyan cellphone operator Safaricom’s M-Pesa money transfer facility, leading to renewed predictions that the cellphone and banking sectors are in the process of convergence.
M-Pesa was introduced by Safaricom in Kenya in March 2007. The service provides an SMS-based, low cost, person-to-person, money transfer facility, which also allows the user to purchase prepaid goods and services (e.g., mobile top-up time and utilities). It has seen subscribers increase from around 100,000 at its launch to more than 3.6 million by July 2008. During that time, M-Pesa has moved some 21 billion Kenyan shillings ($288 million) around the country.
M-Pesa is still only a mobile money-transfer facility. However, Safaricom, which is 40% owned by U.K.-based Vodafone (nyse: VOD – news – people ), is now seeking to expand M-Pesa to embrace remittances, mortgage payments and other services. While such ambitions fall far short of the deposit-taking and transactional roles carried out by retail banks, they are still a challenge to them.
Predictions have existed since the 1990s that cellphones’ ability to transmit data could help bring rudimentary financial services to the vast reservoir of unbanked or underbanked individuals in Africa, signaling the next phase of the continent’s economic transformation.
Challenges. The experience of MobileMoney, which has now been in operation for about three years, illustrates the problems of the m-banking sector across Africa to date:
–Take-up. Far from reaching the unbanked, m-banking services have largely been targeted at existing customers, and even in this case takeup rates have been low. Moreover, active use of accounts has tended to drop off and most customers limit their usage to airtime top-ups and person-to-person payments.
–Complex transactions. Despite the considerable technological advances in the past decade, using a mobile handset to conduct transactional banking remains considerably more complex than using an ATM. Easier technology and more customer education would be required for m-banking to develop mass appeal.
–Regulatory compliance. In developing new financial payments systems, cellphone operators have escaped the regulatory burden faced by banks because they do not, strictly speaking, take deposits. Any attempt by cellphone operators to move beyond cash transfers or purchases of prepaid products into providing a wider range of financial services would encounter this regulatory burden.
In addition to meeting liquidity reserves to protect depositors, cellphone operators would also have to comply with a bewildering and costly array of secondary legislation, including:
–know your customer (KYC) rules
–anti-money laundering regulations
–countering the finance of terrorism legislation
In South Africa and elsewhere in Africa, the cost of KYC compliance has been a key factor in slowing the uptake of m-banking services. Both Vodafone and Nokia (nyse: NOK – news – people ) have been lobbying African governments for a reform of the regulatory framework, but they are unlikely to escape it entirely. As a result, the business model deemed most likely to deliver the much vaunted m-banking breakthrough will be a cellphone-bank joint venture.
Established players. Visa and MasterCard, the world’s two largest payment systems, have been watching m-banking developments in Africa closely, recognizing that handsets are likely to emerge as a distinct payment channel. That competition could arrive earlier than anticipated from a number of African firms hoping to ‘leapfrog’ credit cards where no payment infrastructure exists.
For Best Practices/ Case Studies on Mobile Money – Banking, Remittances, Commerce & Payments. Please contact Christina@WirelessFederation.com
On 04.11.08, In Mobile, By Editor
Orascom Telecom, the Egyptian wireless group with operations across seven countries including Egypt, Algeria and Tunisia, plans to launch a new company offering banking services to its 70 million customers. Speaking to the Financial Times, chairman Naguib Sawiris said the new company would offer customers the chance to use their mobiles to access banking services, including money transfer. Mobile banking is expected to become an important revenue source for cellcos in emerging markets, where many people do not have conventional bank accounts because charges can be high and retail banking branches scarce.
For Best Practices/ Case Studies on Mobile Money – Banking, Remittances, Commerce & Payments. Please contact Christina@Wirelessfederation.com