MTN targets 50% of Africa’s mobile wallets with Ericsson deal

MTN Group have strengthened their partnership with Ericsson to enhance mobile wallet and financial services and financially empower millions of citizens across Africa.

MTN targets 50% of Africa’s mobile wallets

The partnership is set to broaden the scope of financial inclusion from first-time users to high-end business applications, utilizing MTN’s Mobile Money (MoMo) service on the Ericsson Wallet Platform.

In addition to ramping up MTN’s goal of advancing financial inclusion for the unbanked, the service provider will offer advanced financial services to address the rapidly evolving digital financial needs of individuals and enterprises.

MTN MoMo customers can securely manage funds, pay merchants and utility providers, and access loans and insurance services with ease and affordability, promoting financial freedom and stability.

The platform places a strong emphasis on financial technology, with focus areas including the growth of merchant and e-commerce payments, facilitating national and international money transfers among family members and others (remittance services), advancing banking solutions (BankTech), and offering insurance services (InsurTech).

Impressive Growth

More than 63 million MTN active subscribers already use its Mobile Money platform in some form across 16 African countries. MTN MoMo annual transaction value has almost tripled since 2018, growing from $76 billion in 2018 to $204 billion in 2022. Transaction volumes increased by almost 300% during the same period – from 3.5 billion transactions in 2018 to 12.7 billion in 2022.

Ericsson Wallet Platform supports more than 400 million registered mobile wallets and processes more than 2.8 billion transactions, worth more than $40 billion, every month through communication service providers and financial institutions globally.

“At MTN, we are not just connecting people, we are unlocking a world of financial possibilities for every African,” explains Serigne Dioum, Chief Fintech Officer, MTN Group.

“With 63.5 million active users, our Mobile Money platform is advancing economic empowerment across the continent.

MTN Mobile Money offers a spectrum of mobile financial services, encompassing money transfers, payments, savings, and loans for every consumer, actively driving financial inclusion and advancing economic empowerment across the continent.

Our collaboration with Ericsson is a significant milestone in the execution of our Ambition 2025 – building the largest and most valuable platform business and create shared value for our customers in Africa.”