Over seven million subscribers are now using Kenyan mobile operator Safaricom’s microfinance platform M-Shwari, according to George Ndegwa from the operator’s financial services division. Ndegwa was speaking at the 2014 Mobile Money and Digital Payments conference that kicked off in Johannesburg, South Africa yesterday. M-Shwari allows users to make use of the M-Pesa system to
Standard Bank has announced the launch of their mobile payment app, SnapScan. This is the bank’s first mobile payment offering that allows merchants to receive payments from their customers through a combination of a QR code and a secure PIN number. According to Standard Bank’s Head of Innovation and Channel Design, Vuyo Mpako, “We are
After more than a year spent building anticipation, Nettcash has officially launched its mobile money service. As most people had noticed for more than a year now, Nettcash has established an online presence with a website that gave an outline of their products (albeit with a coming soon tag) as well as a subtle offline
You can’t download your dinner, but you will order food, pay checks, and do much more with your smartphone. That is one of the conclusions of Datacomm Research Company’s new 118-page study, Good Food and Drink and Connected Technology, 2014-2019. “The restaurant business is going digital,” said David Strom, co-author of the report. “Online ordering
Tanzania’s leading cellular network, Vodacom and the Commercial Bank of Africa (CBA)have launched a revolutionary banking service, M-Pawa, that will allow millions of Tanzanians to save and borrow money on the their mobile phones. His Excellency President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete launched the service in Dar es Salaam and had this to say, “the historic launch
South African-based Net1 Mobile Solutions, is showcasing its secure prepaid mobile solutions designed for the utilities sector at this year’s African Utility Week held in Cape Town this week. “The benefits of a prepaid electricity system are obvious” said Philip Belamant, Managing Director of Net1 Mobile Solutions. “Consumers can plan their purchase and consumption of
WorldRemit has expanded its service in Uganda to enable customers to transfer money to mobile wallets. The global online money company, which recently secured a $40 million investment from Accel Partners, will provide this new service to increase the pay-out options available to customers sending money to Uganda. Up until now, customers have been able
M-PESA customers will now be able to make mobile banking transactions instantaneously. This follows a system upgrade to the Application Programmable Interface (API) which has resulted in a reduction of transaction time from an average of 2 hours to less than 30 seconds. This will in effect help entrench the move towards a cash-lite society
Ooredoo has announced that it has committed to the GSMA’s Mobile Money Interoperability (MMI) programme to accelerate the implementation of interoperable mobile money services across Africa and the Middle East. Ooredoo joins a group of operators in supporting the programme, who together represent 582 million mobile connections across 48 countries in Africa and the Middle
Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) has declared plans to follow rival Equity Bank into the telecoms market after announcing a first quarter profit increase of 28.6 per cent. It was reported last month that Equity Bank was one of three firms to have been granted mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) licences by the Communications Commission of
