RWANDA:MTN Introduces New Mobile Money Payment Solution

In yet another exciting development in Mobile Money innovation, MTN Rwanda, the country’s telecommunications leader has teamed up with VeriFone Mobile Money to introduce MTN Tap&Pay, the first Near Field Communication (NFC) mobile money payment solution in Rwanda.

MTN Tap&Pay is powered by near-field communication (NFC) technology developed by Youtap, a global provider of contactless mobile payments and financial services software.

This innovative service will enable mobile phones and merchant POS terminals to seamlessly connect to the MTN Mobile Money wallet where MTN’s 1 million Mobile Money subscribers will be able to pay for goods and services simply by “tapping” their phones on a merchant point of sale device.

The experiential launch which took place today at Kigali City Tower (KCT) saw MTN partner with one of the biggest retail chain stores in the East African region, Nakumatt, to go live with this service.

To use this service, the value of the goods purchased is entered into the POS device where the customer will tap the tag onto the POS device, input their Mobile Money PIN from their mobile phone all within a matter of seconds. There is no need to navigate a long USSD menu or enter in a long string of digits.

The launch event was presided over by the Rwanda National Bank (BNR) Governor, John Rwangobwa who said- Innovative products such as ‘MTNTapPay’ are a game changer in the drive towards a cashless economy and financial inclusion in Rwanda.

“Digital Financial Services have proven to spur economic growth by widening tax base and employment and can provide access to financial services for 1.6 billion people in emerging economies” can increase volume of loans extended to individuals and businesses by $2.1 trillion- and boost annual GDP of all emerging economies by $3.7 trillion by 2025.

Acting CEO, Yvonne Manzi Makolo said, “We are pleased to partner with Verifone Mobile Money to bring this innovative payment solution to Rwandans. MTN Tap&Pay is just another one of our many commitments to ensure that we are living up to our vision of leading the delivery of a bold, new digital world to our customers.”

MTN has targeted 100 merchants who will be using this payment service in their stores. Phase 2 will see an additional 3600 merchants utilise MTN Tap&Pay by the end of March 2017.

‘In our effort to serve and bring greater convenience to our customers, MTN Rwanda is pleased to announce the launch of a Near Field Communication (NFC) enabled merchant payment solution integrated on our Mobile Money platform which we have dubbed MTN Tap&Pay”.

MTN Rwanda now boasts over 1 million active Mobile Money users making over 7 million transactions per month, with a monthly transaction value of Rwf 70 billion on its Mobile Money platform.

The MTN Mobile Money ecosystem has expanded extensively with a number of innovative solutions that integrate Mobile Money into the fabric of society. They include Water Bill Payments, Bank Integration services, School Fees payments, Tax payments and Fuel payments, among others.

MTN Tap&Pay is powered by near-field communication (NFC) technology developed by Youtap, a global provider of contactless mobile payments and financial services software.

SOURCE:RWANDAEYE