MTN Mobile Money And Vodafone’s M-Pesa Announce Cross Border Transfers
When East meets South is the mobile money story making headlines today as the MTN Group and Vodafone who handle M-Pesa mobile money platform announced a new memorandum of understanding (MoU) that allows for remittances to be sent to 7 countries in the East and Southern parts of Africa; Kenya, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Uganda, Rwanda and Zambia
In a joint statement to the press, both MTN and Vodafone said “this interconnect collaboration between the region’s two biggest mobile money operators will enable convenient and affordable international remittances between M-Pesa customers in Kenya, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo and Mozambique, and MTN Mobile Money customers in Uganda, Rwanda and Zambia”
Vodafone Director of Mobile Money Michael Joseph said: “Our agreement with MTN to connect our mobile money wallets in East Africa is a fantastic example of co-operation and interoperability between competing mobile operators. By working together, we will deliver cheaper, faster money transfers, improving the lives of many people living in the seven countries involved.”
On this new partnership also, MTN Group Head of Mobile Financial Services, Serigne Dioum said: “After successful launches in Ivory Coast and Benin in West Africa, we are looking enthusiastically at the collaboration with Vodafone in East Africa. Together, we aim to build a scalable model that will accelerate remittance roll-out across the continent.”
We can only hope that mobile money gains as much traction in Zambia as it has in other parts of Africa whne it comes to paying for services/products. More and more businesses, especially eCommerce ones, are using mobile money as one of the options that are given to consumers to pay for bills for products/services.
There is vast potential for mobile money to become the most convenient form of money transfer and payments this side of the world, but it’s up to the service providers to really educate their users on its benefits.
