Ooredoo, a telco serving the Middle East, North Africa and southeast Asia, claims to be making headway in the mobile money market, with a service for unbanked consumers in three countries.
The operator currently offers mobile financial services including money transfers, account top-ups, and bill payment to subscribers in Qatar, Indonesia, and Tunisia. Ooredoo claims to have racked up a million mobile money users in the three markets, and is now preparing to launch a similar service in Myanmar.
“Passing the one million mobile money customer milestone across our footprint is a landmark moment in our company’s history,” group chief executive, Nasser Marafih, says. “The strong take-up by our customers demonstrates the demand for easy-to-use, safe, and affordable alternatives to traditional banks across our key markets, and underlines the new and positive role that communication companies can play in empowering individuals.”
Ooredoo estimates it will have a potential market of 60 million unbanked rural customers in Myanmar, where it recently won an operating license, once its network is fully deployed.
“As we transform our operations throughout 2013 and 2014, we will take our expertise to launch innovative and localized mobile money solutions across our footprint – with a strong focus on empowering under-banked communities in markets like Myanmar,” Marafih explains.