www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Zain, (KW: ZAIN), the leading mobile operator in the Middle East and Africa, and Western Union, (NYSE: WU) a global leader in money transfer, today announced that they will work together to deliver mobile money transfer services in countries in Africa and the Middle East through Zain’s new Zap platform.
The Zap service provides Zain customers access to a full range of transactional services from their mobile phones. Customers can interact with select bank accounts, top-up or transfer airtime, and move money to businesses, friends and family. The service allows customers to pay bills such as electricity, and can even be used to settle grocery bills in the supermarket. Zap has been operational in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda for several months, making mobile banking services available to more than 100 million people in East Africa. Zain has announced plans to introduce Zap in 22 markets.
Western Union has a global agent network of more than 334,000 locations in 200 countries and territories. Once the service is launched with Zain, consumers will be able to send cash money transfers from participating Western Union® locations around the globe in the same way they do today. Zap customers who are enrolled in the service in select countries will be able to choose whether they want to receive their money in cash at a Western Union Agent location or in accounts tied to their mobile phones (their mobile walletsâ€).