MTN Mobile Money hits Rwf7.5b

MTN Rwanda says that transactions through the mobile money service have reached Rwf7.5 billion, with approximately 5,000 transactions carried out every day through the mobile operator’s service that enable users to transfer money electronically with their phones without having to move location. The service dubbed “MTN Mobile Money” was officially launched in February this year. “We have had a sustained growth since the launch of the service due to hard work we came up with a product that was well packaged in terms of pricing and which was working well. This was critical in terms of ensuring that people trusted the product,” Albert Kinuma, the Head of Mobile Money at MTN told Business Times. Sending money through the service attracts a fee of Rwf250 for any transaction between Rwf1,500 and Rwf300,000 for somebody registered while the transaction cost MTN Mobile Money hits Rwf7.5b varies between Rwf600 to Rwf4,000 for somebody unregistered. Rwanda’s largest mobile operator by market share says the service has managed to attract about 200,000 users and 286 agents across the country. “These numbers are all above budget except for the number of agents, where we need to reach at least 300 agents,”Kinuma observed. He added that Mobile Money transactions are dominated by people sending money for business or relatives. Currently, the product in which MTN Rwanda invested over $2 million, also allows users to buy airtime once they have registered for the service. Kinuma said the company is targeting to expand usage of the service beyond money remittance to allow clients from financial institutions such as MFIs to be able to pay loans and make savings deposits, transfer money from their savings account to their mobile money account. “We need to diversify our service offering beyond money remittance; buying cash power, paying salaries.” Though the mobile money transfer service -the first of its kind in the country, MTN says it is taking advantage of their wide network coverage to enhance access to financial services. Ends

News

MTN Mobile Money hits Rwf7.5b