VODAFONE's mobile transfer services including M-PAiSA in Fiji scooped the Mobile Money for the Unbanked award at this year's Global Mobile Awards in Barcelona, Spain.
M-PESA in Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa in association with M-PAiSA in Fiji, Afghanistan and India, and Vodafone Money Transfer out of Qatar came out tops at the event this week.
The awards are part of the annual Mobile World Congress which brings together players in the global telecom market and is organised by the Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA).
The category topped by M-PESA and M-PAiSA recognised innovative, sustainable, pioneering mobile money services around the world that brought low-cost financial services, through mobile, within the reach of low income groups.
The award also recognised the mobile money service that has had the most significant impact on unbanked customers in developing markets over the last year.
"This year's entry, put together jointly with Vodafone, covered M-PAiSA in Fiji, M-PESA in Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, M-Paisa in Afghanistan and India, and Vodafone Money Transfer in Qatar, bringing together the strengths and benefits of the service to the firm's customers across the group," a Vodafone statement said.
"The success story continues," the judges said in their citation.
"This solution is enhanced further with the addition of new features and territories.
"It is winning ground in a way seldom seen in the mobile industry and is a true and sustained success story."
The GSMA represents the interests of the worldwide mobile communications industry.
Spanning 219 countries, the GSMA united nearly 800 of the world's mobile operators, as well as more than 200 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, including handset makers, software companies, equipment providers, internet companies, and media and entertainment organizations.
For M-PAiSA and Vodafone Fiji, this marks a second, in terms of such recognition, at an international level. M-PAiSA was short-listed as one of the five finalists at the Global Mobile Money Transfer awards in Dubai in November 2010.
"We have been confident of the prospects and range of possibilities with M-PAiSA," Vodafone Fiji M-PAiSA product manager Shailendra Prasad said.
"The recognition at the highest echelons is testament to the ingenuity and effectiveness of this service particularly for taking basic financial services to the unbanked. "With over 310,000 customers adopting this service in seven months it is an indication of how desperate people have been for the launch of such a service.
"Whilst there is still work to be done particularly in improving M-PAiSA footprints and accessibility in rural areas.
"For a completely new product in a market the size of Fiji the results are very promising indeed."
Mr Prasad said the results so far had been most satisfying with more than $4 million in transactions to-date.
M-PAiSA now offers a range of business to customer (B2C) and customer to business (B2C) payment options such as bill pay, loan payments, wage and salaries payment and even payment for any goods and services that can be customised to individual business needs.source
