Airtel Rwanda, a subsidiary of Bharti
Airtel, and Tigo Rwanda Ltd, a subsidiary of Millicom, have announced a
partnership to pilot interoperability between their two mobile money transfer
service platforms.
This collaboration will allow Airtel Money
and Tigo Cash subscribers to send and receive money directly into their mobile
wallets without use of vouchers.
Tano Oware, Acting Chief Executive Officer
for Airtel Rwanda said; “As facilitators
at the forefront for mobile-commerce in Rwanda, Airtel is pleased to join hands
with Tigo to provide our customers with an interoperability option that would
allow them access to transact easily using our mobile money transfer services.
This further brings to light our determination to ensure that we achieve
Rwanda’s agenda of cashless economy.”
Interoperability in Rwanda’s mobile money
sector is aimed at fostering financial inclusion thus increasing the velocity
on money in our financial ecosystem.
Adding to the development;
Tongai Maramba, Chief Executive Officer, Tigo Rwanda, expressed: “Getting access to financial services via the
mobile phone can make a massive difference to people’s lives. I am delighted
that we have delivered Interoperability with Airtel. With this, we underline
our commitment to drive financial inclusion and join forces with The Government of Rwanda in the journey towards reduced reliance
on cash. On lighter note, I am excited that I will finally be able to send
money to Mr. Tano’s Airtel Money account without resorting to cash.”
Commenting on the partnership between the
two telcos, Gregory Reeve, General Manager for Tigo MFS added “with this advancement, Rwanda becomes
the second market in Africa to launch interoperability after
Tanzania. Connecting systems together is a key driver of financial
inclusion and access for the people in Rwanda and Millicom is committed to this
cause."
Airtel Money Africa Director Mr. Chidi
Okpala added; “This initiative is another
demonstration of Bharti Airtel’s commitment to deepen financial inclusion and
facilitate cashless ecosystems across Africa. We championed interoperability in
Tanzania and have now done so in Rwanda, with two more countries to go before
year end.”
Mr. Okpala specially commended the National
Bank of Rwanda for its unflinching support for this initiative and commitment
towards ensuring the long term success of mobile money services in the country.
In the past few years, there has been great
adoption of mobile money services as this has been a mode of accepting merchant
payments, sending and receiving money, utility bill payments and pay TV. To put
this in context, in December 2010, only 1.7 million bank accounts and mobile
wallets existed out of a population of 9 million people. Today there are over
5.7 million mobile subscribers in the country.
Mobile Money has had a transformative
impact on the lives of millions of people who previously had limited or no
access to financial services.
Once the customer receives money into their
wallet, they will be able to use other mobile financial services such as P2P,
bill payment, merchant payments or cash outs while also helping the government
to advance important public policy objectives on financial inclusion.
The two companies will continue to work
together on international money transfer services to include more countries
such as Congo.
About Airtel Rwanda
Bharti Airtel Limited is a leading
global telecommunications company with operations in 20 countries across Asia
and Africa. Headquartered in New Delhi, India, the company ranks amongst the
top 3 mobile service providers globally in terms of subscribers. In India, the
company's product offerings include 2G, 3G and 4G wireless services, mobile
commerce, fixed line services, high speed DSL broadband, IPTV, DTH, enterprise
services including national & international long distance services to
carriers. In the rest of the geographies, it offers 2G, 3G wireless services
and mobile commerce. Bharti Airtel had over 312 million customers across its
operations at the end of December 2014. To know more please visit, www.airtel.com; www.facebook.com/airtelrwanda and www.twitter.com/airtelrw
About Tigo Rwanda
Tigo Rwanda is owned by Millicom, a
leading telecommunications and media company uniquely dedicated to emerging
markets in Latin America and Africa. It provides mobile, mobile financial,
cable and satellite services to over 56 million customers in fourteen
countries, primarily under the Tigo brand. Tigo has been operating in Africa
since 1993, in Rwanda since 2009, and serves over 26 million African customers.
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