East Africa telecoms penetrate money transfer services

The latest entrant into the business is MTN Uganda's Mobile Money which was unveiled to the Ugandan public by MTN, in Kampala on 24 February. While breathing the fresh money transfer system into the financial markets, Emmanuel Tumusiime Mutebile, Bank of Uganda's Governor said, Mobile Money which was pioneered by Safaricom under the M-Pesa brand, would lift rural finance to an advanced level.

The service comes as a relief to millions of Ugandans who have either had to endure high money transfer costs charged by either banks, or money transfer service like Western Union, Moneygram and Dahabshill.

Until yesterday, most money movers had to meet costs ranging between 5% and 15% of the amount of cash in transit. However, with the coming of Mobile Money, charges will be less than 3% of total cash in transit.

The launch of MTN's service comes hot on the heels of the simultaneous launch of Zap by Zain a Pan African mobile service provider, in Kenya, Tanzania and Spain last week.