Bharti Airtel to launch Mobile Money Transfer Service in Madagascar
Bharti Airtel Ltd. will begin operating a money-transfer service in Madagascar today to beat demand for financial services among the unbanked.
According to Heiko Schlittke, Director of Airtel’s Malagasy unit, the service will compete with Orange SA’s Orange Money and the M-Vola product offered by Telma, the state-run phone company.
He added that the company is targeting 3.2 million mobile-phone customers on the Indian Ocean island nation by the end of 2011, compared with 2 million now. Airtel plans to invest $50 million in the country over the next 18 months.
As per Schlittke, he expects 90% of the company’s customers to be using Airtel Money in one way or another by July 2011.
Essar Telecom Kenya to launch Mobile Money-Transfer Service
Essar Communications Holdings Ltd.’s Kenyan unit will initiate a mobile-phone money-transfer service in partnership with Equity Bank Ltd., the East African nation’s biggest provider of small loans.
According to Equity Bank Chief Executive Officer James Mwangi, the service to be offered by Essar Telecom Kenya Ltd., known as Yu Money, will reduce the cost of doing financial transactions.
Essar Telecom Kenya Limited (ETKL) is a unit of India based Essar Group. ETKL launched a mobile service network under the brand yu†in November 2008 in Kenya. The company has built the best network using the latest equipment ensuring clarity and reliability. The company provides services like Voice, SMS, Mobile Data, Mobile Money Transfer (yuCash), Electronic Mobile top-up (Eneza), Caller Ring Back Tones (Dunda) and MMS.
Telkomsel launches mobile money transfer service (Indonesia)
Telkomsel, Indonesia’s largest mobile service provider has launched a mobile money transfer service called T-Cash Kirim Uang (Telkomsel Cash Transfer), which allows customers to transfer money using their cell phones.
Subscribers need to register for prepaid e-wallet deposits, which function like bank accounts. It helps customer to transfer funds via SMS, which recipients can claim at customer service centers and thousands of branches of retailer Indomaret in Java, Bali and Lampung. All they need is the recipient of the transaction number to an authorized merchant to claim the money.
According to Ricardo Indra, Telkomsel’s corporate communications manager, the service is the first of its kind in the country. Company’s target market is the people who do not have bank accounts, especially in rural areas.
Mobitel Given time to abide by Mobile Banking Regulations
Mobitel, Cambodian mobile network operator, has been given time until February to ensure its mobile money service abiding by the Central Bank regulations.
The mobile network is required to search for a partner with a local bank to support the mobile money transfer service.
The Central Bank issued a ruling in August that it must oversee credit remittances – which includes the money transfer services provided by mobile networks.
The Cellcard Cash service was launched in September without Central Bank oversight after the network operator interpreted the regulations as not being applicable to its service.
At the time, the mobile network’s operations manager Kay Lot stated that the company did not consider mobile-money transfers to be banking.
The GSMA, which helped fund the service, was reported last month to have suspended grant payments, worth up to US$5 million, until the situation is resolved.
Western Union, MTN to launch Cross-Border Mobile Money Transfer Service (South Africa)
MTN and Western Union has announced a deal to introduce Cross-Border Mobile Money Transfer service in 21 countries.
The service will allow MTN subscribers to send and receive Western Union Money Transfer transactions using their MTN Mobile Money accounts. Additionally, Mobile Money users in certain countries will be able to 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 service will first be introduced in Uganda, where MTN’s Mobile Money service already holds over 1 million registered users. According to the World Bank, Uganda receives nearly US$500 million in remittances every year, making up 3% of the country’s GDP.
The mobile money will not just help the users in transferring money but will also help them to use the funds to pay bills, top-up airtime, send money domestically and internationally, or withdraw cash at Mobile Money Agents or any participating ATM.
According to Khalid Fellahi, Western Union’s Head of Mobile Transaction Services, the Western Union Mobile Money Transfer service is a key part of the company’s multi-channel strategy to offer consumers numerous ways to send and receive money. 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 Mobile Money service is currently available in Benin, Cameroon, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Rwanda, South Africa and Uganda, with pilots underway in several other markets.
Safaricom full year profit jumps 44% (Africa)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: A full year profit jump of 44% has been announced by Kenya’s largest mobile network operator by subscribers, Safaricom. The increase has been attributed to the rise in the revenue from data services including its mobile money transfer service MPESA.
The net income increased from KES10.5 billion a year earlier to KES15.15 billion (USD190 million) in the twelve months to March 31, 2010. 19% rise in the sales to KES83.96 billion has also been recorded.
Telkom Kenya, Zain and Essar Telecom Kenya are the main competitors of Safaricom in Africa, which is 40% owned by Vodafone. At the end of March it claimed 15.79 million customers.
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.
Western Union, GSMA to create mobile money transfer service
The GSM Association and money transfer services specialist The Western Union Company have announced an agreement to facilitate the development of cross-border mobile money transfer services. Western Union and the GSMA are developing a commercial and technical framework that mobile operators can use to deploy services that enable consumers to send and receive low-denomination, high frequency money transfers using mobile phones. The Western Union mobile service will connect operators to Western Union’s existing global money transfer system. Once connected to the Western Union service, operators will be able to use their own mobile wallet software to enable person-to-person mobile money transfers over Western Union’s cross-border remittance network. The Mobile Money Transfer service will enable consumers to transfer money to or from mobile wallets and will offer a global network of Western Union Agent locations for cash-to-mobile and mobile-to-cash transactions. Thirty-five GSMA operators are participating in the GSMA Mobile Money Transfer programme. The first commercial services that make use of the framework are anticipated to be rolled out in the second quarter of 2008.
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