Establishment of a global mobile phone-based remittance service
has taken another step forward with the forging of an alliance
between Western Union and Orascom Telecom, a mobile network
operator (MNO).
Together the partners will target markets in the Middle East,
Africa and Asia where Orascom has a total of 77 million
subscribers. The alliance between Western Union, the world’s
largest remittance service provider, and Orascom, forms part of the
pilot programme of mobile phone industry body the GSM Association’s
(GSMA) mobile phone-based international payments initiative aimed
at drastically reducing the cost of undertaking low-denomination,
high-frequency money transfers.
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Western Union is the GSMA’s official commercial partner in the
initiative.
The alliance marks the third in Western Union’s roll out of its
Mobile Money Transfer Service (MMTS) announced in October 2007. The
first MMTS launch was in July 2008 in alliance with Philippine MNOs
Globe Telecom and Smart Communications. It enables consumers in the
United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Hong Kong and Hawaii to send money
directly into accounts on phones of the Philippines MNOs.
Orascom operates in six developing countries – Algeria,
Bangladesh, Egypt, Pakistan, Tunisia and Zimbabwe – three of which
are among top receivers of remittances.
According to the World Bank, in 2007 Bangladesh received $6.6
billion in remittances, Pakistan $6.1 billion and Egypt $5.9
billion. Orascom has 32 million subscribers in Pakistan, 17.5
million in Egypt and 9.4 million in Bangladesh.
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