On the back of his company's recently forged partnership with mVisa, Direct Pay Online CEO Eran Feinstein believes the ubiquity of mobile devices and mobile money technology is likely to drive an increase in card payments in Africa.

The partnership will enable over 20,000 Direct Pay Online customers to accept card payments through the mVisa application, according to Direct Pay Online.

"Consumers can pay merchants by scanning a QR code on a smart phone or by entering a merchant number into a feature phone. The payment is pushed directly from the consumer's bank account into the merchant's account and provides real-time notification to both parties," reads a statement issued by the company.

Feinstein told ITWeb Africa that the value will be extended to the broader market. "The impact will be on the actual market. It will enable more merchants and consumers to interact easily."

"Mobile is very common, which I think is a great opportunity. Look at the mVisa platform it is based on the phone. The mobile phone has mobile money or a card behind it. At the end of the day, as long as the consumer holds a mobile phone they can use it for commerce. There are no limits to connect mobile money to the same mVisa application," he added.

According to Feinstein there are tens of millions of cards across East Africa and what his company is doing is to show the potential of card payments either through direct card payment or through a mobile application such as mVisa.

He said customers are excited about the partnership, especially those within the airline industry.

"What makes airlines special is that there are a lot of frequent customers who use cards to pay online and this will make it even easier," he explained.

Direct Pay Online began its operations in Kenya in 2006 and now has presence in Tanzania, Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, South Africa, Namibia and Botswana.