BSNL to launch Mobile Banking in India

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Mobile Money Transfer Services is set to be launched by India’s state owned telco, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited in participation with SBI and YES Bank on electronic platform.

Money orders could be send by the mobile subscribers electronically through text messages (SMS) with the help of this innovative plan. For this, the customers are required to go to the nearest post office and transfer the money by SMS. The receiver can collect the money by showing the unique code contained in the SMS to the post office in his locality.

The service has already been test piloted in Chandigarh and it will soon be rolled out after Reserve Bank’s approval.

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Mobile banking, mobile chatting, information on demand, wallpapers, games and what not. Tata DoCoMo subscribers can enjoy all these facilities as the telco has partnered digital security firm Gemalto to offer these SIM based services and applications.

The service by DoCoMo will support both Hindi and English and the user will be asked for his preference while activating the service. User preference and choices will also be remembered by the service so that the user gets preferred content as real time updates.

According to the company, if an ongoing cricket series is selected by a user as an option, then he will receive all related content on his mobile without having to stream the news from the menu service tab.

Tagged with:
 

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Indian telco Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited has planned to gain around 22 million cell phone subscribers in the next fiscal along with its plan to enter the field of mobile banking and advertising space.

BSNL currently had 8.5 lakh 3G mobile subscribers and according to R. K. Aggarwal Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited’s Director, a target of 22 million mobile connections will be kept by the company next year (2010-11) including 20 million 2G connections and two million 3G.

The current subscriber number of BSNL is expected to go up to one million by next month-end while the average revenue of BSNL is 40% more than their 2G counterparts per user from 3G subscribers.

Tagged with:
 

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: A mobile banking platform is proposed to be launched by Indian telco BSNL to help a mobile subscriber send money orders electronically through SMSs, encashable at all post offices in the country.

Anyone wishing to send money through the money transfer service will have to transfer the money by way of an SMS by going to his nearest post office. A lot of money could be saved as the SMS will reach on time. People having no proper address for physical delivery of the money order would also be helped by this service.

Besides, BSNL has also planned to launch a service under which a person with the help of an electronic authorization from his bank on his mobile phone will be able buy goods at the local kirana shop or any other store.

According to BSNL Board Director (Consumer Mobility) R K Agarwal, the platform had been test-piloted in Chandigarh and the state-run telecom major expects to roll out the service in association with the postal department, after getting the Reserve Bank of India’s approval.

Tagged with:
 

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: AMWAL, a consortium of Iraqi banks and Asiacell, Iraq’s second largest mobile operator by subscribers has formed a strategic partnership for the provision of a mobile banking service in the country.

Asiacell’s pre-paid customers will now be able to have an account with any of AMWAL’s member banks to use their mobile phone for a variety of financial transactions, including the transfer of money to other accounts and checking of bank balances.

According to Dr Diar Ahmed, CEO of Asiacell, this innovative mobile financial solution will enable Asiacell’s subscribers to enjoy convenient, secure and easy-to-use mobile banking services that are available 24/7 and all year around and the combined efforts of the two companies will act as major leap in developing Iraq’s technological capacity.

Tagged with:
 

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The inaugural GSMA’s 2010 ‘Mobile Money for the Unbanked Service’ award at the Mobile World Congress has been won by Zain, a leading mobile network operator in the Middle East and Africa. The Global Mobile Awards in this category has been given for Zain’s mobile commerce service called ‘Zap’.

To recognize innovative mobile banking around the world, the Mobile Money for the Unbanked Service has been established, pioneering the roll out of low-cost financial services to millions of people, in countries where traditional financial services are either not within easy reach or unavailable.

Launched exactly one year ago on February 16, 2009, Zap, is the biggest Mobile Commerce service in the world accessible to approximately 200 million potential customers in Kenya, Malawi, Niger, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Ghana. It provides the most comprehensive and accessible package of m-commerce features currently available anywhere in the world.

Tagged with:
 

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: With the addition of 428,000 net new customers in just three months, Telkom Kenya ended December 2009 with 1.2 million mobile subscribers. However, the operator still fell short of its target of two million registered users by year-end despite of an impressive growth in the latter part of the year.

Meanwhile, ‘Orange fixed-plus’ fixed-wireless CDMA-450 network ended 2009 with 250,000 customers, up from 236,700 a year earlier.

According to CEO Mickael Ghossein, the company invested around KES18 billion (USD225.3 million) on network expansions and upgrades in both 2008 and 2009 and plans to spend between KES10 billion and KES16 billion in 2010, with the introduction of a mobile banking product and possible entry into the country’s 3G market on the firm’s agenda.

Tagged with:
 

Nokia Money due to launch soon

Nokia is attempting to create a multi-bank, multi-operator and multi-device collaboration on mobile banking.
Nokia’s mobile banking and payment service is expected to be commercially available in its first market in Q1 2010, though no location details have been revealed yet.
According to Teppo Paavola, vice president, GM mobile financial services, Nokia cannot reveal any details until a banking partner is confirmed. It is learnt that the service requires a banking license before it can be launched.
Nokia said its target is to have 300 million active users of its services by the end of 2011; the number is expected to be 80 million by the end of 2009.
Paavola said the service will enable un-banked people in emerging markets to transfer money, top up prepaid mobile services, pay bills, carry out online transactions, and pay merchants.
Global mobile payments market is expected to be worth €18 billion by 2014 – €12 billion from emerging markets and €6 billion from developed markets.
Approaches to mobile banking so far have lacked scale and have not worked across operators and across banks.
Nokia therefore plans to drive the collaboration on an open financial ecosystem, with Nokia Money at its core. Paavola added that it has taken a long time to get all the players together, from banks through to mobile operators.
The Nokia Money application will not only be pre-loaded but could be sideloaded, or downloaded later.
Nokia will also be able to provide the physical distribution channel that is critical for the service to work. For example, Nokia handset sellers can be turned into Nokia Money agents, providing the devices, the application, and the ability to handle cash.

Nokia is attempting to create a multi-bank, multi-operator and multi-device collaboration on mobile banking, a service dubbed Nokia Money.

Nokia’s mobile banking and payment service is expected to be commercially available in its first market in Q1 2010, though no location details have been revealed yet.

According to Teppo Paavola, vice president, GM mobile financial services, Nokia cannot reveal any details until a banking partner is confirmed. It is learnt that the service requires a banking license before it can be launched.

Nokia said its target is to have 300 million active users of its services by the end of 2011.

Paavola said the service will enable un-banked people in emerging markets to transfer money, top up prepaid mobile services, pay bills, carry out online transactions, and pay merchants.

Global mobile payments market is expected to be worth €18 billion by 2014 – €12 billion from emerging markets and €6 billion from developed markets.

Approaches to mobile banking so far have lacked scale and have not worked across operators and across banks.  Nokia therefore plans to drive the collaboration on an open financial ecosystem, with Nokia Money at its core.

The Nokia Money application will not only be pre-loaded but could be sideloaded, or downloaded later.

Nokia will also be able to provide the physical distribution channel that is critical for the service to work. For example, Nokia handset sellers can be turned into Nokia Money agents, providing the devices, the application, and the ability to handle cash.

Leading mobile telecommunications provider Zain today announces the revolutionary enhancement of Zap, its rapidly expanding mobile banking service currently available  to over 100 million people in East Africa and run in partnership with CitiBank and Standard Chartered Bank. From today Zap customers can swiftly and securely receive money from any bank account around the world and easily send money to any bank in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. This is the first time in the world any mobile bank account has been configured so that its users can receive funds from anywhere in the world directly to their mobile handset as well as send funds directly to their Bank accounts.
In addition Zap allows customers to use their mobile phone 24 hours a day to:
  • Manage their bank accounts
  • Pay for goods and services and settle their utility bills
  • Receive Zap money – and send Zap money to their friends and family
  • Top up their airtime account – or top up someone else’s
  • Check their balance and keep on top of their payments

(more…)

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Telefonica, one of theworld’s leaders in the telecommunications sector, and MoreMagic Solutions, a leading mobile transactions provider, announced today that U.S. friends and family of Telefonica customers are now able to recharge Telefonica mobile phones throughout Latin America, using MoreMagic Solutions International Roaming Recharge Global Hub. Telefonica operates in twelve Latin American countries under the Movistar brand. From hundreds of thousands of retail locations, or the web – www.etopuponline.com, a customer can send a gift of prepaid airtime to a Movistar mobile phone.

MoreMagic Solutions International Roaming Recharge Global Hub leverages an extensive network of hundreds of thousands of retail locations in the United States, where the service is available for customers who have connections with Movistar customers in Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, and Peru.

“Movistar customers are asking friends and family throughout the world to help them stay connected in a cost-effective and convenient way, and we are pleased to work with MoreMagic Solutions to meet their needs,” said Jaime Grau, Transactional Services Director at Telefonica Latinoamerica. “In communities throughout the United States, customers can purchase a gift of airtime at their neighborhood convenience store, and the Movistar mobile phone back home is immediately credited.”

(more…)

Tagged with: