MTN Group and Orange Group have announced a joint venture, Mowali (mobile wallet interoperability), to enable interoperable payments across the continent. Mowali makes it possible to send money between mobile money accounts issued by any mobile money provider, in real time and at low cost.
Mowali will immediately benefit from the reach of MTN Mobile Money and Orange Money, bringing together over 100 million mobile money accounts and mobile money operations in 22 of sub-Saharan Africa’s 46 markets.
Mowali is ready to enable interoperability between digital financial service providers beyond MTN and Orange operations and markets, to support the existing 338 million mobile money accounts in Africa, the companies said. It is a digital payment infrastructure that connects financial service providers and customers in one network. It functions as an industry utility, open to any mobile money provider in Africa, including banks, money transfer operators and other financial service providers. The objective of Mowali is to increase the usage of mobile money by consumers and merchants.
Mowali enables money to circulate freely between mobile money accounts from any operators in all countries. From the customer’s point of view, this means “I can pay or receive money anywhere from my mobile account regardless of my operator”.
The system is expected to unlock further innovation in the digital financial space within the continent. The GSMA supports the Mowali initiative as interoperability at this scale is a key accelerator for both financial inclusion and mobile money usability across Africa, the industry group said.