Fundamo m-payments service available with MTN operator

MTN, South African mobile phone operator, announced its partnership with Fundamo, a South Africa-based mobile banking and payment solutions group, in order to boost subscriber loyalty and entice new users in Africa and the Middle East through launching a money transfer system. MTN, who already has the greatest amount of subscribers among the mobile companies in Africa, said the project, MobileMoney would be worth $9.7 million.
Considering the fact that only 20% of the African households has access to a bank account, as stated by the United Nations, mobile operators in the region are working hard to find alternative ways of offering financial services. The service launched by MTN will follow the success of Safaricom’s M-PESA in Kenya; and Zain’s Zap in Kenya and Tanzania.

MobileMoney is expected to enable company customers to make money transfers and payments through their mobile phones. Moreover, they will be able to receive a branded MTN MobileMoney debit card for withdrawing money from their accounts.

MobileMoney is already operating in South Africa and Uganda, being piloted in Cameroon, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire and Nigeria, and is under deployment consideration in the Middle East, including in Afghanistan and Syria.