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Airtel Malawi partners Mukuru in mobile money transfer service

By , ITWeb’s Zambian correspondent.
Africa , Malawi , 24 Nov 2020

Airtel Malawi, the country’s largest mobile phone operator, has partnered with Mukuru to enable users from Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe to remit funds via Mukuru directly to Airtel money customers in Malawi.

Airtel Malawi mobile money director Polycarp Ndekana said every year, thousands of Malawians in the diaspora face challenges when sending money to sustain their families and relatives back home and partnering with Mukuru will provide them a convenient and secure way to transfer funds.

“This timely integration with Mukuru will offer customers additional opportunities to enjoy using Airtel money, allowing them to do more on the platform with funds received from family and friends based outside the country,” said Ndekana.

Mukuru country manager Charles Phiri said the integration between Airtel money and Mukuru will allow them to render support regardless of the distance.

“So whether the money being sent is for school fees, hospital bills, rent or groceries, we want to make all this possible for our customers through convenient recipient platforms such as Airtel money,” said Phiri.

At the end of October 2020, Airtel money had a customer base of over 2.4 million subscribers, about 32, 000 agents, 900 mobile money branches and over 7, 000 kiosks across rural and urban Malawi.

Meanwhile, the country’s National Payment System report, published by the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) on 20 November, shows an increase in digital payments uptake among Malawians in the third quarter of 2020.

The reports indicates that between July and September 2020, the volume and value of digital financial services (DFS) transactions rose by 30% and 30.7% to 130.4 million and MK2 trillion respectively.

The report added that 132.2 million transactions were processed in all payment streams during the third quarter, representing an increase of 30% from the second quarter of 2020.

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