The rapid growth of mobile money-based services continues. Ooredoo Money Services, part of Qatar-headquartered operator Ooredoo, has announced a partnership with Thunes, a global payment services platform based in Singapore, to provide instant money transfers to multiple mobile wallets internationally.
The partnership will enable Ooredoo Money customers to send money instantly to mobile wallets and bank accounts in 20 countries across Africa, South Asia and the Asia Pacific region.
Ooredoo Money is a mobile wallet service that allows users to register for a mobile wallet account so that they can deposit, withdraw, pay and send money in Qatar or abroad instantly through their phone.
As the partners in the venture point out, mobile financial services are one of the fastest-growing payment methods around the world, with around 548 million accounts registered with 157 financial service providers in Africa.
Experts also anticipate a huge growth in the penetration of mobile financial services – by 311%, reaching nearly 440 million mobile wallet users in Southeast Asian countries by 2025.
Thunes says that through one integrated platform, it provides companies with instant access to their services to enable the sending of remittances through mobile wallets easily and quickly to many countries across the world.
Simon Nelson, Senior Vice President, Middle East and North Africa at Thunes, says: “We believe that the payment experience of the future will be more transparent, instant and interoperable across countries and with different payment methods. Through our collaboration with Ooredoo Financial Services, we will facilitate the transformation of this vision into a reality. We are pleased to work with Ooredoo to enhance payment options for its financial services customers.”