MobiCash, a Mauritius-based mobile payments company that provides banking and payment services to those without access to traditional financial services, recently announced it has launched a mobile money service in the Republic of the Congo. MobiCash introduced the service in collaboration with mobile network operator Warid Congo SA, which has 400,000 subscribers [1]. The new service allows customers to make cashless transactions from any mobile phone and deposit and withdraw money from retail agents. The service employs the following authentication features to combat fraud: near sound data transfer, fingerprint scanning, near field communication and voice biometric technologies. In accordance with requirements of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa, the service will be available on all mobile networks in the Congo[1]. MobiCash has operations in eight countries in Africa [3].
While many mobile payment services in Africa restrict services to specific networks, banks or countries, Visa, a US-based electronic payments processing company, is reportedly launching a product that would allow users from any network to use mobile phones to conduct financial services across borders regardless of the telecommunication company used [1] [2]. As of June 30, 2011, Visa’s network included 1.9 million automated teller machines (ATMs) and 1.9 billion Visa cards worldwide.
By Courtney Snelling, Research Associate
Sources and Additional Resources:
[1] Howwemadeitinafrica.com, “New Mobile Money Product for Congoas Competition Heats Up Across Africa”, http://www.howwemadeitinafrica.com/new-mobile-money-product-for-congo-as…
[2] Nation.co.ke, “Visa to Start Mobile Money Transfer”, http://www.nation.co.ke/business/news/Visa+to+start+mobile+money+transfe…
[3] Biz.prlog.org, “MobiCash”, http://biz.prlog.org/mobicash
MicroCapital.org Brief, March 15, 2012, “MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: MasterCard to Launch Mobile Phone-Based Financial Services Worldwide”, https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-mastercard-to-launch-mobi…
MicroCapital Universe Profile, Visa, https://www.microcapital.org/microfinanceuniverse/tiki-index.php?page=Vis…
Browse the MicroCapital Universe and add your entry to the wiki at: https://www.microcapital.org/microfinanceuniverse/
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