Tigo Rwanda, a telecom brand owned by Millicom Cellular International (MIC), recently inaugurated its mobile money services in Rwanda, targeted at subscribers with limited or no access to banking services.
Tigo Rwanda is the second mobile company to launch such a service after its major competitor MTN Rwanda launched its mobile money product last year.
Tigo has similar services in Ghana and Tanzania.
Rwanda’s rural areas have limited access to financial services, with the central bank saying only 1.7 million deposit accounts had been registered by December 2010 out of a population of 9 million.
With about 3.3 million mobile subscribers shared between MTN and Tigo as of January this year, Rwandan mobile users can utilise the technology to deposit and withdraw money and can pay electricity bills and school fees via text messages.
“Tigo Cash is basically a wallet on your mobile phone. You don’t have to have a bank account,” said Tom Gutjahr, Tigo Rwanda’s chief executive. To sign up for the service is free but one has to be above 18 years and a Tigo subscriber with a valid identity card.
Non Tigo subscribers will not be able to register for the service but can receive cash on their network from a Tigo Cash registered peson in any part of the country any time any day.
“If you are not a “Tigo Cash” user, you will still be able to receive money from other Tigo Cash users,” the CEO said.
Licensed to operate in Rwanda two years ago, MCL said Tigo Cash can send between $1 and $550.
John Sebabi, head of payment systems at Rwanda’s central bank, said the new service would deepen financial services.
“If the number of mobile phone exceeds that of bank accounts, then access to financial services is growing which is line with our objectives of increasing access to such services,” he said.
The Product Manager, Tongai Maramba announced that Banque Commerciale du Rwanda (BCR) would be the host of the Tigo Cash trust account.
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