SA's second mobile operator is looking to grow its financial services portfolio as banking becomes increasingly mobile in SA and Africa at large.
In what is the operator's first move since voicing its vision of growing financial services, MTN this morning announced advances to its debit card airtime recharge facility.
MTN's “Eazi Recharge” product, says the operator, has been given improved functionality, an extension to more banks, and the ability to buy Internet and SMS bundles from mobile devices.
According to World Wide Worx's recent mobility report, the main transactional function carried out via mobile remains that of airtime purchases (74%).
Originally launched in June 2009, Eazi Recharge traditionally entailed online purchases that were restricted to customers with credit cards - thus excluding a large percentage of the South African banked market from benefiting from the service. “By supporting debit cards, as well as credit cards from Absa, Nedbank and Standard Bank, the facility extends this convenience to millions of users,” says the operator.
Mapula Bodibe, GM of consumer segments at MTN SA, says the service provides a large base of MTN users with the ability to access the popular transactional service via mobile. He says the operator will continue to look at “innovative” ways to provide customers with better ways to recharge with airtime.
Revenue on tap
MTN Group president and CEO Sifiso Dabengwa says, in light of the country's unbanked contingent, the operator will look into this as an alternative source of revenue and add-on services.
Earlier this month, Dabengwa said the firm was looking at “innovative and relevant” products and services, particularly in its financial facility offering. He said MTN is looking at improving its offers significantly, with the aim of getting 25% of its 176 million total subscribers onto its Mobile Money - or other financial - platforms.
Dabengwa says financial services represent a “big opportunity” considering cellphone companies operate switches that are operable most of the time and capable of dealing with millions of rands in transactions.
“Financial services, from a transactional point of view, are near to MTN's core business and something it is able to do effectively,” says Dabengwa - citing the operator's Mobile Money trial that has taken off around Africa and “taught MTN a lot”. The fact that it has been a hit in some countries and others a miss, he says, means the operator is now in a better position to improve.
Ultimately, the realm of mobile finance will be limited to payments and transfers - not necessarily other aspects like lending, he says.
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