\tMTN Group outlined plans to relaunch mobile money in its home market of South Africa in January 2020, more than three years after a lack of commercial viability forced it to abandon the product.<\/p>\n
Branded MoMo, the service will be available through an app or using USSD functionality on non-smartphones. Its initial version will be similar to MTN’s standard offer in other markets.<\/p>\n
MTN South Africa CEO Godfrey Motsa said the forthcoming launch was a \u201cpivotal step” in its strategy.<\/p>\n
The company estimates 11 million citizens in South Africa are class<\/a>ed as unbanked, with half of the country\u2019s population underserved by financial institutions.<\/p>\n MTN South Africa chief officer for mobile financial services Felix Kamenga noted: \u201cWe have learnt what to do as well as what not to do and we believe that MTN has significant footprint in South Africa to reach underbanked and underserved communities still heavily reliant on cash to transact.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis represents an MTN Group effort as we worked with our counterparts in other markets, tapping into technical and human resources available from established markets which made this journey easier.\u201d<\/p>\n MTN abandoned mobile money in South Africa in September 2016 after four years in operation due to a \u201clack of commercial viability\u201d. Rival Vodacom previously made a similar move citing a lack of prospects for attracting a mass of users.<\/p>\n At its peak MTN South Africa\u2019s mobile money service had 2 million registered users.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" MTN Group outlined plans to relaunch mobile money in its home market of South Africa …<\/p>\n The post MTN prepares to resurrect mobile money in SA<\/a> appeared first on Mobile World Live<\/a>.<\/p>\n