www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Today, Virgin Mobile Canada and EnStream LP announced that Virgin Mobile customers can now Zoom each other cash with Zoompass(TM), a groundbreaking new mobile money transfer and payment service.
Zoompass is a fast and easy way to send and receive money securely with a mobile phone. “We’re always on the lookout for breakthroughs that will help our customers get more from their phone,” said Nathan Rosenberg, Chief Marketing Officer, Virgin Mobile Canada. “Zoompass is a perfect example of innovation that works for people, making it easy and fast to turn their mobile phones into a virtual wallet. In fact, I have some friends that owe me cash. I’m going to get them to Zoom me immediately!”
Zoompass makes it easy to split a lunch bill, ask for money from parents, collect sports team fees or chip in for a co-worker’s gift right from a mobile phone. More and more Canadians nationwide are using Zoompass as a way to send money. Virgin Mobile Canada customers can send money to anyone belonging to a participating Canadian wireless carrier, even if the recipient doesn’t have their own Zoompass account yet. People are instantly notified on their phone when they receive money and are asked to register at www.zoompass.com. (more…)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The Mexican central bank has laid rules on paying for goods and services and making other financial transactions through bank accounts associated with mobile telephones.
The bank said in a statement on Monday that it had set out regulations for telephone operators and banks to open “mobile accounts” for their clients.
“The rules establish measures to promote competition and inhibit possible discriminatory practices in money transfers within one bank or between different banks,” the central bank said.
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Zain, the leading mobile operator in Middle-East and African countries have inked an agreement with SCB to launch its mobile money transfer service Zap in Uganda. After receiving an approval from the Central Bank of Uganda, Zain has chosen Stanchart as Zap’s trustee bank. Zap which already is operational in Kenya and Tanzania offers mobile banking services such as money transfer, mobile airtime transfer, merchant and bill payments and international remittances.
Nearly 95% of the Ugandan population has no access to banking services of the country. With over a million of Zain subscribers in Uganda having the Zap menu enabled on their phones will enable them to use the service after registering. Zain will also soon enable its subscribers to make cross-border payments and transfers between Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda at no extra charge.
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Mi-Pay has extended its Globaltopup service to include India’s top five major cellular operators, which cover up to 89% of the sub-continent’s cellular subscribers. The news follows a recent announcement by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, confirming India as the fastest growing cellular market in the world.
Globaltopup will appeal to those with family, friends or colleagues – travelling, working or living in India – who want to ensure that they have access to mobile airtime, whatever their location or circumstances.
“With over 391 million mobile subscribers and 13 mobile operators, India is ripe for mobile service deployment,” said Norman Frankel, CEO of Mi-Pay. “With 25 million Indians living and working abroad, it has one of the world’s highest international remittance figures. This indicates a large base of non-residents regularly helping those financially back home. We believe they will welcome the ability to provide vital cellular airtime to their relatives through our Globaltopup service.”
Frankel is quick to point out that demand will not be restricted to non-resident Indians. “There are large numbers of expatriate US, Canadian, and European citizens based on the Indian Subcontinent. It is also a popular destination for gap-students, international travellers and cultural visitors. Indeed, tourism looks set to boom when India hosts the Commonwealth Games in 2010. With our service, all of these groups will be able to benefit from easier access to mobile services facilitated via top-ups from family, friends or employers based abroad.”
Easy to use and secure, Globaltopup allows registered customers in one country to buy airtime topups for people in different countries via the Internet. All that is needed are the country, operator and recipient’s mobile number. Users simply choose from the topup amounts available, and the cost is given in the local currency at the prevailing exchange rate. Once the transaction is confirmed, Mi-Pay collects the payment and processes the topup immediately.
Mi-Pay’s Globaltopup service now supports the following mobile operators in India; Vodafone, Airtel, Reliance, BSNL, Idea and Aircel. This includes the top five largest operators by subscriber numbers. To do so it has overcome many of the challenges associated with delivering an international remittance service from overseas.
Frankel explained: “Although operators are extending their reach into less populated and rural communities, the market is still very fragmented and often divided into geographic “calling circles”. Each operator has a number of regional operations, each of which sells its own range of topup products, and has its own technical infrastructure. Mi-Pay is able to integrate with this complex infrastructure and offer customers a simple, easily understandable interface irrespective of location.”
Outside India, Mi-Pay has signed international airtime deals with airtime distributors and mobile operators in over thirty countries, and is rolling out these operators in the next few months. As well as selling services via its own Globaltopup portal, Mi-Pay provides the portal as a full ‘white-labelled’ service for MVNOs, operators and financial institutions wishing to offer international mobile topup services using their own brands.
About Mi-Pay
Mi-Pay the leading mobile money company, provides an innovative range of products and services that enable consumers around the world to undertake safe and secure financial transactions from their mobile phones. With its International HQ based in the UK, Mi-Pay recognises the need to be local as well as global and has offices and operations in Dubai, Romania, and India, bringing a global perspective to the provision of secure transactions from the consumer’s handset through to settlement. Mi-Pay has significant expertise and service offerings that span mobile money transfer, mobile initiated payments, mobile banking, and pre-pay top ups.
For more information visit www.mi-pay.com and www.globaltopup.com
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: MTN, African mobile operator is piloting mobile money transfer service in Benin, Congo Brazzaville, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Conakry and Liberia. The company said the pilots are aimed at finalising the systems and operational processes in preparation for the commercial launch.
MTN is in partnership with local banks to ensure that its services are fully compliant with financial services regulations. To meet the regulatory requirements, MTN is in talks with relevant authorities in various countries. MTN said that the successful launch of Mobile Money Transfer (MMT) in Uganda marks the beginning of a series of planned launches across its operations in Africa and Middle East. Non MTN user, i.e. those who do not have MTN Sim cards or even a phone can still receive money from MTN Mobile Money users and send money through a network of agents in their country.
Leading mobile money services provider Mi-Pay and Isys Global Trading Group, a leading value added service provider to mobile operators and financial institutions have combined forces to launch a new person-to-person money transmission service which is now live and fully operational in Sudan.
Called ‘Saraf-Mobile’, the new platform delivers secure payments capabilities to companies and individuals using their mobile phones; creating a cash transfer channel packed with application and service potential for financial institutions. The new pan-Arab service is the first phase in a planned roll-out which will cover 22 countries within the Middle East and North Africa.
With ‘Saraf-Mobile’ people in Sudan can now transfer money immediately from one recipient to another irrespective of their location. People can send money to family and friends; businesses can receive payment direct from customers’ mobiles; and financial institutions can target and serve the huge mobile consumer base that exists within the region. All that’s required to make a transfer is the recipient’s mobile phone number.
‘Saraf-Mobile’ represents a true collaborative approach between Mi-Pay and Isys. Mi-Pay supplies the open-system technical infrastructure including transaction clearance and settlement interface as well managing the regulatory framework, training and associated skills development. Isys, through commercializing the technology and capitalizing on its network of regional offices, provides local management and first line technical support as well as partner recruitment and local regulatory approvals.
Both Mi-Pay and Isys are eager to emphasise the opportunity for financial institutions across the Middle East and Africa. Representing a completely managed, customer ready operator independent service, ‘Saraf-Mobile’ is a fully-supportive channel that enables mobile phones to be used for money transfer.
It dramatically reduces the time to market and operational overhead traditionally associated with establishing this type of service model. It also provides potential to evolve new revenue streams for financial institutions by providing ubiquitous payments services such as mobile top-up, utilities payment and money collection.
‘Saraf Mobile’ also creates a new authorised cash channel for both the ‘banked and unbanked’. Individuals can simply go to a ‘Saraf-Mobile’ agent to transfer money easily, securely and quickly; the recipient is advised same-time via SMS to go to their local “Saraf-Mobile” agent to collect the transferred cash.
Glen Jennison, Managing Director Mi-Pay Middle East explained: “Mobile Money Transfer (MMT) can deliver huge benefits to countries and people throughout Africa and the Middle East. With the launch of ‘Saraf-Mobile’, Mi-Pay and Isys are demonstrating their foresight and commitment to the region. There is no need for a Bank account, a plastic card or an ATM.
“Cash is king in the majority of Middle East and African countries and mobile phone penetration can be almost 100%. The opportunities for ‘Saraf-Mobile’, therefore, are immense. Mi-Pay is proud to partner with Isys to deliver financial service solutions that offer greater access and financial freedom to individuals and business alike.”
Mohammed Al Rashidi Managing Director & CEO of Isys commented: “Isys and Mi-Pay are working as one team to help financial institutions deploy ‘Saraf-Mobile’ without boundaries. We are glad to be working with an innovative, application driven company such as Mi-Pay and are looking forward to deploying ‘Saraf-Mobile’ in all Isys operations, currently in 22 countries, throughout the Middle East and Africa. ‘Saraf-Mobile’ is the first outcome from a unique program designed to provide innovative financial services; making it faster and easier for financial institutions to fulfil their growth ambitions.”
About Mi-Pay
Mi-Pay the leading mobile money company, provides an innovative range of products and services that enable consumers around the world to undertake safe and secure financial transactions from their mobile phones. With its International HQ based in the UK, Mi-Pay recognises the need to be local as well as global and has offices and operations in Dubai, Romania, and India, bringing a global perspective to the provision of secure transactions from the consumer’s handset through to settlement. Mi-Pay has vast expertise and service offerings that span mobile money transfer, mobile initiated payments, mobile banking, and pre-pay top ups.
For more information, please visit www.mi-pay.com
About ISYS
ISYS is a Kuwaiti, global based company, working in telecom solutions; by bringing technology standards, and customised solutions through partners, operators, to telecom consumers. ISYS carries out advanced competitive leadership in mobile services, both local and regional such as Jordan, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Yemen, Egypt; as well as Globally such as Sudan, Nigeria and more. ISYS has already reached six branch offices; ISYS Kuwait, ISYS Emirate, ISYS Jordan, ISYS Egypt, ISYS Sudan, ISYS Nigeria, and toward Europe and more.
ISYS keeps providing many innovative mobile content solutions and financial services, as well as consultancy and applications to third parties and telecom companies. Based on the leaded concept, ISYS focuses on a standard model, to keep its solutions seamless for the location or region, and serve better the telecom consumers.
For more information visit www.Isys.mobi
Telkom Kenya, intends to launch a mobile money transfer in Kenya under its commercial brand Orange, reports Telkom Kenya’s head of marketing and strategy Jean-Michel Chanut Kenya.
According to Chanut, the challenges at present, met by the rival operator Zain Kenya, will have no stopping for Orange bringing mobile money transfer service to the Kenyan mobile market.
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Rwandatel, the Libyan-owned mobile operator is planning to launch a mobile banking and cash transfer system as a part of its investment strategy worth $45 million to be based in Rwanda in 2009. The technology is likely to be launched in October enabling its users to send and recieve money internationally via SMS text messages, says CFO Patrick Kariningufu, targeting specially the rural customers. “You can be able to send your money to your mother sitting far away in the forest or wherever and when you run out (of credit), based on your credit facility, you (also) have the possibility to have a loan up to a certain level.” Kariningufu reportedly said.
Zain rolls out a pilot project of its rebranded mobile money transfer service Zap, which will be operational in Africa and Middle East. The pilot will be rolled out in Madagascar, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. Chris Gabriel, Africa CEO of the company said, “Zain is addressing issues with the regulators and central banks in the region; we hope the process will result in benchmark standards for the sector since the mobile money transfer service is already being offered in some countries,”. Managing director Rene Meza additionally said “It will be a comprehensive mobile banking solution that will go beyond the money transfer. Customers will be able to interact with their banks and access their personal accounts,”.
The new money transfer service will allow the subscribers to withdraw and deposit money through Zain outlets and transact international money transfers. Zap will also offer added services to clients in collaboration with local commercial banks.
“We expect to launch Zap early next year, the infrastructure is in place and is functional and operational and is already being used by 80 per cent of our customers through the 2,000 outlets in the country,” said Mr Meza.
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Vodafone Group launches its mobile money transfer pilot scheme transacted between UK and Kenya, focusing onto increasing its vitality in the growing industry and among its potential customers. The UK based group, is in a deal with the Kenyan biggie Safaricom tagged with Western Union money transfer services.
The service is in based on the success story of M-PESA, Vodafone’s Kenyan mobile transfer service. Vodafone reportedly said that the service will enable the subscribers to send remittances from Western Union stores directly to Safaricom mobile subscribers in Kenya, often in minutes. Those users can then either withdraw the money from one of 4,000 M-PESA agents in Kenya, or forward it on to another mobile phone. The pilot scheme will be instigated in Reading, UK.
“The successful take-up of M-PESA in Kenya has clearly demonstrated the demand for easily accessible, secure cash payment services in emerging markets,” said Nick Hughes, Vodafone’s head of international mobile payments.
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