Telecoms firm MTN and payment services firm Visa have partnered to let its mobile money users make face-to-face and online transactions wherever Visa is accepted, with Ghana set to be first market to have the offering.

This is according to a statement released by the company at AfricaCom, being held in Cape Town, South Africa.

As part of the agreement, MTN Mobile Money account customers can use their devices to pay in stores with Visa Points Of Sale (POS).

Also, MTN says customers are expected to be able to make online payments at all Visa merchants and withdraw money from their mobile money accounts at any Visa ATM.

MTN Mobile Money customers in Ghana are planned to get the offering first before the end of the year. The service is then to be rolled out across the MTN footprint.

Across Africa and the Mideast, MTN has a user base of 203.8 million subscribers across all 22 markets where it operates.

“The partnership between MTN and Visa will provide MTN Mobile Money customers with access to the entire Visa network, which includes merchants, online vendors and ATMs, to enable a ‘mobile’ payment experience,” says Pieter Verkade, MTN Group chief commercial officer.

Visa’s head of global mobile network operator partnerships, innovation and strategic partnerships group, Vish Sowani says: “We are delighted to launch this exciting new service with MTN. This is significant as we look to extend the benefits of electronic payments to mobile money services in Africa. Visa recognises that mobile technology is the single most significant driver of financial inclusion and improving access to financial services is a critical building block to help more people improve their lives.”

“We look forward to building on this broad based partnership with MTN to bring further innovative payment related products to their customers in the future,” adds Sowani.

MTN Mobile Money enables users to do national and international money transfers, make utility and other service payments, purchase airtime, access insurance and financial products and make retail payments.

As of 30 September 2013, MTN Mobile Money had 13,4 million registered users, and was available in 13 countries.