By Pratap John
Chief Business Reporter
Money remittance through mobile phone will become possible in Qatar within a few months as Vodafone is setting up a trend-setting service, which facilitates cash transfer to almost anywhere in the world.
Named World Money, the service is being launched in the country in association with local banks and exchange houses, Vodafone Group Chief Executive Officer Vittorio Colao said in an exclusive interview with Gulf Times.
“I hope the service will be up and running before June 2010 subject to Qatar Central Bank approval,” Colao said.
He said Vodafone would use its expertise in “mobile money transfer” in Kenya, where the service is being operated by its joint venture, Safaricom.
Colao said that World Money was expected to be a “phenomenal success” in Qatar given the huge number of expatriates in the country.
“I am convinced our product will be the best one to send and receive money. Vodafone guarantees international best practices and absolute security in running the service. World Money will be operated in a safe and traceable way and protected 100%.”
He said a mobile device has become the “best gateway” for an individual to the world.
“Now with a mobile phone you can talk, write, educate or entertain yourself. Technology has now made it possible even to transact on a mobile phone. We are making use of that opportunity,” the Vodafone Group CEO said.
Vodafone is not launching World Money because it will generate considerable income for the service provider.
“Honestly, it may not be a big business for us in terms of margins because of the small transaction fee. But it will be an incredibly powerful tool for economic development, reducing social divide because it helps the underbanked and non-banked people around the world, as we have seen in Kenya,” Colao said.
Vodafone Qatar CEO Grahame Maher said all post-pay (Freedom) and pre-pay (Red) customers could avail of the World Money service, once it was launched. It is not mandatory that the sender and recipient have standard bank accounts.
However, a potential beneficiary has to have a World Money Account with a local bank, which will be independent of one’s standard bank account. There must be sufficient credit in the account concerned to facilitate money transfer on mobile phone.
“We will help them open the World Money Account, which is currently an option for Vodafone customers. Since we have tied up our post-pay and pre-pay segments with bank accounts, it becomes easier to set up a World Money Account,” Maher explained.
Vodafone will set up a Trust to operate the World Money service and manage the accounts in the bank. All World Money customers will be beneficiaries of that trust.
“Obviously, there will be a limit on the money one can send either to one’s bank account or agent locations abroad. We are in discussions with Qatar Central bank on this. We don’t exactly know what those limits on remittances will be,” Maher said.
He said though there would be a transaction fee, it was yet to be worked out.
“But our World Money service will be very competitive,” Maher said.
Maher said Vodafone was in discussions with other telecom service providers to examine the possibility of money transfer to mobile phones on other networks. |
