Ericsson, MTN Partner To Advance Financial Inclusion In Africa

Ericsson and the MTN Group have joined forces in a bid to elevate mobile financial services empowering millions across Africa. The Mobile Telecommunication Provider, MTN Group and Ericsson signed their agreement during a visit by senior MTN Group executives to Ericsson’s Group Headquarters in Kista, Sweden.

This collaboration ensures that customers across Africa gain access to an advanced mobile financial network, enabling seamless management of funds, payments to merchants and utility providers, and access to loans and insurance through MTN Mobile money (MoMo), powered by Ericsson’s wallet platform directly from their mobile devices.

This initiative extends financial inclusion from first-time users to high-end business applications, utilizing MTN’s MoMo service on the Ericsson wallet platform.

Serigne Dioum, Chief Fintech Officer, MTN Group, said: “At MTN, we are not just connecting people, we are unlocking a world of financial possibilities for every African. With 63.5 million active users, our Mobile Money platform is advancing economic empowerment across the continent.”

He continued to say, “MTN Mobile Money offers a spectrum of mobile financial services, encompassing money transfers, payments, savings, and loans for every consumer, actively driving financial inclusion and advancing economic empowerment across the continent. Our 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.”

From the press release, over 63 million MTN active subscribers across 16 African countries use MTN Mobile Money, with annual transaction value nearly tripling since 2018 to reach $204 billion in 2022. Simultaneously, Ericsson Wallet Platform facilitates over 400 million registered mobile wallets globally, processing 2.8 billion transactions monthly, totaling $40 billion through communication service providers and financial institutions.

Michael Wallis-Brown, Head of Mobile Financial Services, Ericsson, said: “Ericsson’s partnership with MTN is a world-leading example of the ability of mobile financial services to financially empower people and business – from giving the unbanked their first opportunity to control their finances, making it easier for women to access financial services and promoting digital inclusion – to enabling more advanced users to access high-end services.”

He added, “This model can be applied in any market anywhere in the world to genuinely empower mobile subscribers of all financial standings. Our valued MTN partnership also supports Ericsson’s AfricaInMotion vision to promote a sustainable and connected Africa.”

The platform emphasizes key aspects of financial technology (FinTech), with a focus on merchant and e-commerce payments, remittance services, banking solutions (BankTech), and insurance services (InsurTech)