Airtel Money Africa’s total transaction value at $3.33B in Q1-FY16

Telecom operator Bharti Airtel’s mobile commerce subsidiary Airtel Money‘s total values of transactions in Africa has grown 72.2% to $3.33 billion for the quarter ended June 30, 2015 from $1.93 billion in the corresponding quarter last year. In the preceding quarter, Airtel Money in Africa had total value of transactions of $2.9 billion, a growth of 14.83% sequentially.

The total customer base using the Airtel Money platform increased by 61.8% to 7 million as compared to 4.3 million in the corresponding quarter last year while the total number of transactions during the quarter has more than doubled to 198.2 million as compared to 97.7 million in the same quarter last year.

During the quarter, Airtel Ghana launched a tap and pay mobile money payment service in Ghana. The service, through Airtel Money, allows contactless payment based on the Near Field Communications (NFC) technology. The company also said that Airtel DRC and Korongo Airlines have signed an agreement for air tickets purchase through Airtel Money. Airtel Money is currently present in 17 countries in Africa.

YTS Solutions acquisition: Earlier this week, Bharti Airtel acquired the Mumbai-based mobile payment startup YTS for an undisclosed amount. Post acquisition, Airtel Mcommerce Services Limited (AMSL) will integrate the payments and remittance businesses of YTS Solutions. Additionally, the company has appointed Manish Khera, MD & CFO at YTS, as the new CEO of AMSL.

Payments Bank license: Airtel Money parent Airtel M Commerce Services Limited (AMSL), which already has a prepaid payments instrument licence from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), applied for a payments bank license earlier this year. The company had said that if it gets a payments bank licence, Kotak Mahindra Bank will pick up 19.90% stake in AMSL. This is most likely a strategic partnership and they might get expertise and leverage from Kotak Mahindra Bank.

SOURCE:MEDIANAMA