New cash transfer service eyes Rwanda’s 1.5m cellphone users

Kenya’s Safaricom — the largest telecom company in the region and which recently announced its international money transfer line to the UK through M-Pesa — said it intends to extend the service to Rwanda, too.

Safaricom pioneered money transfer via the mobile phone through M-Pesa in East Africa.

Currently, about six million people are signed onto the M-Pesa service.

Statistics show that about 52 per cent of all money transfers in the region are through M-Pesa, and that 93 per cent of the people surveyed are happy with the system.

MTN Rwanda has started testing the new system and is piloting with selected MTN Mobile Money Agents.

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) says Rwanda’s mobile penetration, as of 2008, is 31.4 subscribers per 100 inhabitants.

A stable and sufficient supply of electricity is the greatest obstacle to increasing mobile phone penetration rates in rural areas.

In Rwanda, only about 13.3 per cent of the nine million population use banking facilities.

From December 2007, there were only 751,142 bank accounts, which increased to 1.2 million at the end of December 2008.

The ITU says there are not more than 1.5 million mobile phone users in Rwanda, with MTN claiming 80 per cent of the market share.

MTN Rwanda chief executive officer Khaled Mikkawi said the ongoing tests are critical whenever a new product is being introduced to the market.

“We are proud to be involved in this initiative that is critical to the financial development of the Rwandan economy. We are also fortunate that other MTN markets have launched the product and we can draw from their experiences,” Mr Mikkawi said.

The MTN Group launched the money transfer system for Africa and the Middle East, aiming to boost subscriber loyalty and entice new users.

The service has been piloted in Cameroon, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire and Nigeria.