Airtel Africa Appoints Network For Payment Processing

Airtel Africa has partnered with Network International (Network), a digital commerce enabler across the Middle East and Africa (MEA), to improve its payment processor.

This solution will provide Airtel Africa users with the comfort and ease of accessing a wide range of both conventional mobile services and new digital payment services, all through a seamless and improved customer experience. Network International, headquartered in the United Arab Emirates, operates in over 50 countries, including 40 African nations. The company serves more than 200 financial institutions and handles over 1.6 billion transactions annually. This extensive experience in the African market makes Network International a valuable partner for Airtel Africa.

While Airtel Africa operates in 14 countries across the continent, primarily in Central and West Africa, it currently has over 140 million customers in those markets, including more than 36 million users of its Airtel Money platform. Network International will expand its services in major Airtel Africa countries, covering card issuance and technical support. This comprises a broad range of services such as transaction processing, card hosting and management, online fraud prevention, internal reconciliation and settlement, and online access for Airtel users.

“We are thrilled to partner with Network International to enhance our payment processing capabilities. This collaboration will enable us to deliver a superior customer experience and drive digital financial inclusion across Africa,” said Ian Ferrao, Group CEO of Airtel Money, while sharing his excitement about the collaboration. He further highlighted that Network International’s deep understanding of the African market will help Airtel innovate and scale its services more effectively.

According to Network International, the solution provided to Airtel will enable its subscribers to smoothly and easily access both conventional mobile services and new digital payment services.

“Our collaboration with Airtel marks a major milestone for our outsourced payments services in Africa. It demonstrates our ability to successfully serve Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) via our fully-fledged processing solutions and our continued dedication and commitment to the African region. We are excited to support Airtel’s growth strategy and its business development plans for the entire continent,” Dr. Reda Helal, Group Managing Director -processing, Africa, and Co-Head Group Processing at Network International, commented.