MTN, Ericsson step up Africa fintech drive

MTN Group and Ericsson have extended their mobile money partnership with a view to widening the scope of financial services available to consumers and enterprises through the operator’s platform.

The pair have signed multiple previous agreements focused on financial services for Africa and emphasised the latest iteration of the partnership would broaden inclusion efforts from first time users to advanced business applications.

MTN’s mobile money platform operates across its markets in Africa and uses the Ericsson Wallet Platform, which processes transactions for service providers and financial institutions. 

Alongside basic payment and remittance, focus areas for MTN’s service moving forward include growth of merchant and e-commerce payments, supporting advanced banking applications and insurance.

The extended pact includes a plan to transition services to the public cloud and refine MTN’s open API framework, moves the pair said would foster “acceleration of fintech innovation in Africa” by aiding enterprises in developing revenue-generating applications.

MTN chief fintech officer, Serigne Dioum said its mobile money platform was already “advancing economic empowerment” across Africa, adding that the “collaboration with Ericsson is a significant milestone in the execution of our Ambition 2025, building the largest and most valuable platform business and create shared value for our customers in Africa”.