As the Mobile Money evolution continues, MTN Rwanda, has introduced MTN Tap&Pay, the first Near Field Communication, NFC mobile money payment solution in Rwanda.
MTN Tap&Pay is powered by near-field communication (NFC) technology and this innovative service will enable mobile phones and merchant POS terminals to seamlessly connect to the MTN Mobile Money wallet where MTN’s 1 million Mobile Money subscribers will be able to pay for goods and services simply by “tapping” their phones on a merchant point of sale device.
The experiential launch which took place this week at Kigali City Tower (KCT) saw MTN partner with one of the biggest retail chain stores in the East African region, Nakumatt, to go live with this service.
To use this service, the value of the goods purchased is entered into the POS device where the customer will tap the tag onto the POS device, input their Mobile Money PIN from their mobile phone all within a matter of seconds. There is no need to navigate a long USSD menu or enter in a long string of digits.
“There is no need to navigate a long USSD menus”
Speaking at the launch event, Acting CEO, Yvonne Manzi Makolo said, “We are pleased to partner with Verifone Mobile Money to bring this innovative payment solution to Rwandans. MTN Tap&Pay is just another one of our many commitments to ensure that we are living up to our vision of leading the delivery of a bold, new digital world to our customers.”
Hon. John Rwangombwa, Governor of the Central Bank of Rwanda lauded MTN for introducing a payment service designed to create more flexibility, accessibility and convenience for Mobile Money customers. “MTN Tap& Pay is an innovative merchant payment solution that is a key milestone and a game changer in the drive towards a cashless economy.”
In the first deployment phase, MTN has targeted 100 merchants who will be using this payment service in their stores. Phase 2 will see an additional 3600 merchants utilise MTN Tap&Pay by the end of March 2017.
MTN is hopeful that this new payment solution will contribute to the growth of mobile retail payments in Rwanda, where cash is still predominant. As a country, Rwanda’s goal is to fully achieve a cashless economy with at least 95% of all transactions happening electronically by 2017.
MTN Rwanda now boasts over 1 million active Mobile Money users making over 7 million transactions per month, with a monthly transaction value of Rwf 70 billion on its Mobile Money platform.
The MTN Mobile Money ecosystem has expanded extensively with a number of innovative solutions that integrate Mobile Money into the fabric of society. They include Water Bill Payments, Bank Integration services, School Fees payments, Tax payments and Fuel payments, among others.
 mobile money payment solution in Rwanda.){kind=link}