Rwanda telecoms start ‘cross border’ mobile money

After a long period of delays, the country’s telecoms- MTN Rwandacel and Airtel Rwanda have set to rollout the cross border mobile money.

The  long  awaited  cross  border mobile  money  that is seen as  a step  towards financial integration   received  delays   both on the  regulators  side as well as operators  since  last  year in August. John Karamuka, Director Payment Systems at central bank , Rwanda’s regulator   for  mobile  money  said that  the  bank  finalized  the  requirements  that were asked by  regulators in  other members states as wells  giving  license to  regulators to   operate the   cross border platforms.

The telecoms are now cleared to transact,” said Karamuka With  this  signal,  AirtelRwanmda moved in  to   harmonize  its plat form  with its sister  companies in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania and has confirmed  it is launching  this  week, something that  will see it cover almost  four  partner  states  unlike the first  cross border mobile  money  done by Tigo Rwanda.

Accordingly, Tigo Rwanda together with its sister company in Tanzania launched the cross border Tigo cash, although it was limited to only two countries. Teddy Bhullar, Airtel Rwanda Managing Director  said that   pilot  phrase aimed at  harmonizing  of the  plat forms because  successful and  has  since  given a  positive  single to launch the   cross border Airtel  Money. “Since the start of the Pilot Phase in October last year, Airtel Rwanda has since received approval from the Central Bank and our counterparts in region have also finalized  acquiring the same,”  Bhullar earlier   told   Media.

But also  MTN  Rwandacell has also  announced   it is financed partnership deals   with  Safari com  in Kenya and Vodacom  in Tanzania which are also  subsidiary  of UK based Vodafone to  allow  cross border    mobile money  transactions. Norman Munyampundu, the head of mobile money at MTN Rwanda notes that    they are expecting to launch the transaction in the coming weeks after all the necessary   testing are done.

Under the  cross border arrangements, subscriber  in  one  country  will be able to send  money  using their m mobile  phone and  in their currency to   a subscriber  in  Kenya and Tanzania and the to the  receives the  money  in their  currency. Mobile money – the use of cell phones for money transfers, payments and more sophisticated financial activities such as credit, savings, and insurance – is increasingly popular in East Africa.

SOURCE:RWANDAEYE