MTN Nigeria has launched mobile money- MoMo- operations in Nigeria, its biggest market in Africa as also the most populous and industrially advanced nation in the continnet. This will enable people to use digital transfers and payments through mobile phones, making money transactions across Africa through mobile phones. MTN and the Nigerian government feel that this would lead to financial inclusion. The Nigerian launch of MoMo can have a ripple effect in other African countries and industry players are keenly watching how it would be panned out.
The system works in a simple and convenient manner. Customers can send a text and get a response from the company, which will send a list of the registered agents near them. Then customers pay transfer sum to agents who, in turn, give them a code to be transmitted to the receiver. The receiver goes to the nearest agent or his preferred one to collect the money transferred with documents to prove his/her credentials. While the response from the company for the requisition of its agent is free of cost, there is a fee to be charged by the agent, who sends the money and the one who disperses the money. The sender of money is required to pay N100. The agent then sends the money to another agent, who is closer to the person who receives the money. Once the delivery is complete, the receiver of the transferred money has to pay N50 to the agent who disburses the money. The minimum amount that can be transferred is fixed at N100 and the maximum is either N50,000 or N100,000 depending on the agent. The recipient will have to claim the money before the expiry voucher and that is within 30 days.
Countries like Ghana, Kenya, etc have their own systems for money transfer through mobile telephony, but with varying procedures and checks and balances.
