We have heard, several rumors of having contactless NFC based point of sales (POS) devices to be used wildly used in Uganda. Near Field Communication (NFC) technology has several uses worldwide, but most commonly used in payments for goods and services as mode of transaction. NFC chips can be embedded in many devices like smartwatches, rings, ATM VISA or Master cards by several hardware makers. Payway is not letting the latest technology trend pass them by, in April they started rolling out the new A90 POS terminal to their customer agents.
The A90 POS terminal can be used in many places by agents including supermarkets, agency banking, bars, restaurants, etc. Payway’s next generation POS terminal runs an old Android 5.1 operating system and does away with on screen buttons in favor of a fully capacity large screen. It adopts Qualcomm quad-core processor, and integrates multiple payment options such as barcode scanner with high speed printer.
The A90 POS terminal Spec sheet
Brand name: Aisino
Processor: Qaud-core 64-bit
Memory: 1GB DDR3 + 8GB Flash
Printer: High speed thermal printer
Operating System: Android 5.1 security os
Display : 5.5 inches
Support card: Mag-card,IC card, Contactless Card
PSAM card: 1 slot, comply with ISO 7816
Dimensions: 200mmx80mmx56mm(L,W,H); Weight: 418g(includes battery)
Connectivity: Wifi, 2G/3G/4G
Battery life: 72 hours ( High volume lithium battery )
SIM Card: 1 slot, support 1.8V, 3.0V card
Some Carvets
Payway’s new A90 POS agent terminal device is equipt with several technologies key of them is NFC payments. Adoption of contactless (NFC) payment in Uganda is not common due to integration issues by big companies in the financial sector and 3rd payment party companies like Payway. Apple Pay, Samsung Pay or even Android Pay is still a dream for most developing countries and thus rendering smartwatches under utilized. So don’t expect to use this feature soon especially due to slow adoption of NFC based devices in Uganda.
In 2016, MTN Rwanda introduced MTN Tap&Pay, the first Near Field Communication, NFC mobile money payment solution in the region. The service enables mobile phones and merchant POS terminals to seamlessly connect to the MTN Mobile Money wallet where subscribers will be able to pay for goods and services simply by “tapping” their phones on a merchant point of sale device. MTN Uganda is yet to launch this after the successful launch of MoMo pay.
