Dakin Campbell Visa Inc., the world’s biggest bank- card network, agreed to help develop Rwanda’s payments system and connect the African nation’s 11 million citizens to the global economy as the firm pushes to boost non-U.S. revenue. The company will modernize the nation’s payments network under an accord with the government, working with partners to
Nigeria: Locals Abroad Remit Over $10 Billion Home in 2011
Laolu Akande The Moment NIGERIA has topped the chart again in the 2011 estimated remittance flows to Africa from abroad according to the updated World Bank estimated data for the year released recently which puts the total remittance flows to Nigeria at $10.6b, Empowered Newswire reports. A World Bank statement noted that all remittance flows
The Numbers That Lure Telecom Firms to Africa
Sam Wambugu Daily Nation One of the great business successes of the information age – and, not coincidentally, one of the great drivers of social change – has been the mobile phone revolution in Africa. In 2000, there were just 17 million cellphone connections in Africa used by just over two per cent of the
Mobile Money glitches expose MTN
FRANK AHUMUZA www.busiweek.com MTN Uganda since the introduction of Mobile Money has been boasting of growing customer numbers however over that last three months the service has wrecked havoc to customers. Constant glitches in the system have led to increased customer complaints with some of them stranded with money on their accounts. “The mobile money
M-pesa customers suffer outage
WINFRED KAGWE The Star Safaricom’s users yesterday had to do without Mpesa services as the platform suffered an outage. The outage that started at 1305Hrs affected all handset transactions meaning that money transfers and other M-pesa services were not going through. By press time, the company said it was still trying to identify the cause
Learning From a Kenyan Revolution
Wolfgang Fengler The writer is Chief Economist at the World Bank. NAIROBI STAR Who would have thought, 20 years ago, that a poor African country would become a powerhouse of global innovation in Information and Communication Technology (ICT)? Definitely not me! As a student on a long road trip through Africa in 1990, I often
Airtel crosses 50 million subscribers in Africa
Airtel has crossed 50 million subscribers from its 17 operations in Africa, including Ghana, after mother company Bharti Airtel invested some US$1 billion towards rollout on the continent. This is only after 17 months of acquiring Zain Africa at a whopping US$10.7 billion in June last year. In September of the same year, the company
Etisalat Afghanistan launches ‘mHawala’ mobile money services
Mobile network operator Etisalat in partnership with Telepin Software has commercially launched mHawala, its new mobile money services platform in Afghanistan. Etisalat Afghanistan will be using Telepin’s Cayman Transaction platform for a full mobile financial services offering that includes central bank cooperation, banking ecosystem participation, utility merchant involvement, and salary disbursement, which enables complete mobile
Call for Mobile Money experts to speak at the 2nd Annual Mobile Money West Africa Conference and Exhibition 2012
MobileMoneyAfrica is inviting professionals who deal with mobile financial services across financial institutions, Mobile network operators, Micro finance, regulatory, technology and application providers to share their views, experiences and strategies with other professionals at the 2nd Annual Mobile Money West Africa Conference and Exhibition 2012. This event which attracted over 300 delegates this year, will
MTN flays CBN’s m-payment policy in Nigeria
Adline Atili MTN Nigeria has faulted the regulatory framework of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on the implementation of mobile payment system. Mobile payment or m-payment is a point-of-sale payment made from or via a mobile device. Using m-payment, a person with a mobile phone could pay for goods and services without interacting with
