AFRICA – Telecoms and mobile money services provider, Airtel Africa, announced a partnership with Mastercard, giving over 100 million Airtel Africa mobile phone users across 14 African countries access to Mastercard’s global network.
The Mastercard virtual (non-plastic) card allows Airtel Money customers, even those without a bank account, to make payments to local and global online merchants that accept Mastercard cards, while ensuring that the customer’s financial data is always secure and private.
Airtel Money customers will also be able to make in-person payments at outlets via Quick Response (QR) codes (whereby payments are made from an Airtel mobile phone by scanning the QR code displayed at checkout or by entering a merchant identifier, at any location worldwide that Mastercard QR is accepted).
To date, there are over 1 million merchant locations across Africa that accept Mastercard QR payments.
Airtel Money customers will also benefit from competitive pricing and preferential exchange rates for international payments, and gain access to other domestically relevant use cases including bill payments, merchants payments and value-added services such as cash management solutions.
Speaking at the launch Airtel Africa CEO Raghunath Mandava said Airtel and Mastercard have a shared passion for digital transformation and making mobile financial services accessible to everyone across the continent.
“Through our partnership we will enable over 100 million Airtel Africa customers make safe mobile money purchases online and in person. The partnership will also significantly bolster Airtel’s position as one of the largest offline-to-online digital payment network in Africa,” said Mr Raghunath.
“We are really excited to embark on this partnership with a globally trusted brand like Mastercard. This partnership is truly revolutionary in our market, giving millions of people better access to the digital and online world.”
Amnah Ajmal, Executive Vice President for Market Development, Mastercard Middle East and Africa, said, their digital partnerships across the Middle East and Africa region is focused on enabling digital transformation for their partners to enable consumers enjoy seamless access to payments.
He said mobile internet connections are expected to grow rapidly in Africa due to low cost smartphones and high-speed GSM networks being rolled out by mobile network operators like Airtel.
Airtel Africa is a leading provider of telecommunications and mobile money services, with a presence in 14 countries in Africa, primarily in East Africa and Central and West Africa.
Mastercard is a technology company in the global payments industry. Its global payments processing network connects consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories.
