08 February 2019

The MTN Group and Orange Group have announced a joint venture to enable interoperable mobile payments across the continent.

They say ‘Mowali’ – mobile wallet interoperability – will make it possible to send money between mobile money accounts issued by any mobile money provider, in real-time and at low cost.

Between them, MTN and Orange are said to have more than 100 million mobile money accounts and operations in 22 of sub-Saharan Africa’s 46 markets.

Mowali is a digital payment infrastructure that connects financial service providers and customers in one inclusive network.

It functions as an industry utility, open to any mobile money provider in Africa, including banks, money transfer operators and other financial service providers.

The partners say the objective is to increase the usage of mobile money by consumers and merchants.

They claim their system will unlock further innovation in the digital financial space within the continent.

Mowali is said to bring together more than 100 million MTN and Orange mobile money accounts and operations in 22 of sub-Saharan Africa’s 46 markets.

The companies add that the platform is ready to enable interoperability between digital financial service providers beyond MTN and Orange to support the existing 338 million mobile money accounts across the continent.

In separate news, in mid-November 2018 Orange announced a new partnership with the Virtual University of Tunis, which provides digital training to students in Tunisia.

The partnership aims to support access to the university’s courses and training in the African countries within Orange’s footprint.

A similar partnership was later signed in December with the Virtual University of Senegal.