Mobile money transfer service wins award

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

Mobile Money Services by Ericsson

Ericsson had decided to go compete in the mobile banking service by offering platform named Ericsson Money Services and will be introduced at Mobile World Congress event coming weeks. Ericsson’s launch of new businesses is the result of research and proof of concept that has been implemented in Europe and Asia. As part of services, Ericsson has developed a service solution end-to-end and the related business and operational models, to meet the requirements of regulators, law and security, in cooperation with the customer service and innovative companies in the financial sector.

Mobile operators, financial institutions and other service providers, hoping Ericsson Money Services and Money Interconnect Service to expand the money supply in the mobile service. They hope that will be connected in real-time, without boundaries, and without limit currency.

A new market has been opened, consumers will take over cell phone banking. They are the people most of whom never had a credit card. People who have never set foot into a bank now has the opportunity to use a virtual bank. They will also get the advantage of ease of transaction, even to transfer service.

Particularly in emerging markets, many people do not own bank account, but could pay on their cell phones and take payments contrary. Market experts expect that the development of mobile phone payment within the next three years in many countries the most important mobile applications.

The technical solution from Ericsson enables operators and financial institutions, their services in real time, across national boundaries and across different currencies, to offer mobile.

The system complies with regulatory and safety requirements. Money Services also includes different business and operating models and can thus adapt to the conditions in different markets.source