Bharti Airtel has partnered with pan-African banking group Ecobank to offer mobile money services across nine of its African wireless operations.
The companies are ready to offer Airtel Money services in Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Niger, Zambia and Kenya, and plan to roll out the service in Gabon and Sierra Leone later this month.
Subject to regulatory approval in each market, customers of Airtel subsidiaries will be able to make Airtel Money deposits and withdrawals at Ecobank branches.
The service will also offer the ability pay utility bills, make two-way money transfers between Airtel Money and Ecobank accounts and to check account balances using Airtel Money.
“Ecobank is committed to bringing financial services to all Africans including the unbanked and under banked through collaboration with major partner-Telcos like Airtel,” said Patrick Akinwuntan, Ecobank’s Group Executive Director, Domestic Bank.
India-based Bharti Airtel has operations in 17 African companies, through subsidiary Airtel Africa. The company first entered the region through the 2010 acquisition of Zain's mobile operations in 15 African markets for $9 billion.