Why Is East Africa A Global Leader In Mobile Remittances?

East Africa has established itself as a global leader in mobile remittances, and TerraPay is the latest mobile payments platform to enter the crowded space with its launch in Tanzania.

The global company has obtained regulatory approval to launch international money transfer services to mobile wallets in Tanzania.

There are good reasons why companies are flocking to the region. There are huge opportunities in Africa’s mobile remittance segment due to a large number of people living and working abroad who send money home for investment and family support.

“There is also the opportunity created by intra-Africa businesses that require money transfer from one African country to another,” says Danson Njue, an analyst at Ovum. “The continent has a relatively high mobile penetration rate and a developed mobile money service platform which supports the growth of the mobile remittance sector.”

Experts say Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe are challenging Kenyan operators for dominance of the sector. More and more players are entering the mobile remittances space, with Tigo launching an international remittance service and South African company Mama Money expanding to Tanzania earlier this year, IT Web Africa reported:

There is also interoperability between customers of MTN Mobile Money and Vodacom’s M-Pesa, with the arrival of TerraPay, which is part of the Mahindra Comviva group and provides interoperability engines – a further development.

The regulatory approval means Tanzania is now part of the TerraPay global network, which will allow partners from across the world to send money to mobile wallets in the country. Tanzanian diaspora in the U.K., France, Italy, Canada, U.S., South Africa and elsewhere can send remittances directly to Vodacom M-Pesa, Tigo Pesa, Airtel Money and Zantel Ezy Pesa Mobile Money accounts by visiting a participating TerraPay store.

In 2015, the World Bank reported remittances to Africa reached US$35 billion, excluding the amount transferred through informal channels. Mobile methods of sending money are vital due to the high cost of sending remittances in Africa via formal channels — between 8 percent and 20 percent of each transaction.

Since Kenya’s launch of M-Pesa a decade ago, East Africa has set itself up as a leader in mobile money. Aside from mobile money operators, global firms like WorldRemit and TerraPay see the region as a major base.

WorldRemit tracks the development of the sector back to the launch of M-Pesa. Recent figures released by the money transfer company show that the Kenyan diaspora is the biggest sender of digital remittances to mobile accounts.

Transfers to mobile money accounts make up 93 percent of WorldRemit’s transactions to Kenya, proving that Kenyans continue to be early adopters of innovative technology, even when abroad.

In January 2017 alone, WorldRemit customers transferred more than US$140 million to Kenya, while Kenyan internal remittances reached a record US$161 million in November 2016, making remittances one of the nation’s top earners.

But it is not just Kenya. East African countries including Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda are also leaders in this space and have competitive markets.

Lehlohonolo Mokenela, an industry analyst at Frost & Sullivan, says East Africa and South Asia are reporting high growth in the volume of mobile money-based remittances.

“The affinity for mobile wallets in East African markets such as Kenya and Tanzania is expected to enable the growth of international remittances in the region, Mokenela said. “Service providers such as TerraPay are already looking to enable the development of this market in different parts of the continent.”

Making different mobile transfer services interoperable in different countries is a vital next step for the development of the market. Again, East Africa is leading in this, with Tanzania in particular making major steps forward, but there is more to be done.

“Interoperability is expected to overcome challenges to scale and facilitate micro-transfers across borders, a common theme for Africa’s low-income population,” Mokenela said. “The challenge for the market however, lies in the navigating the regulatory hurdles from one country to the next.”

Njue said there is evidence of increased adoption of mobile money interoperability by service providers to support cross-border and cross-network transfers and grow the sector.

“The need for interoperability is to support mobile remittances and also grow service usage among users. In addition to increasing mobile money usage, interoperability has the potential to unlock the intra-Africa mobile remittance sector which has not had much focus in the past and which holds the key to promoting cross-border trade,” he said.

He said he expected to see some consolidation in the market given how many different companies have entered the space.

“In my opinion, market consolidations may be inevitable in some markets where we have so many operators. However, partnerships will feature most as service providers seek to tap into the opportunities in the sector,” said Njue

Source:afkinsider

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Impact of mobile money interoperability in Tanzania

Tanzania is one of the most developed mobile money markets in the world, representing almost a third of all of East Africa’s active mobile money accounts in 2015. [1] It is also one of the most progressive, with ambitious initiatives regularly leading to new product innovation. Today, we are releasing a publication looking at the impact of one form of innovation coming out of Tanzania: the impact of account-to-account mobile money interoperability.

With Tigo, Airtel and Zantel having connected their services in 2014 and Vodacom integrating in 2016, account-to-account interoperability is still in early days in Tanzania. As such, this publication focuses on preliminary quantitative metrics alongside perspectives and reflections written by the service providers. The basic quantitative data offers a glimpse of initial customer behaviours and allows us to benchmark growth against a comparative use case, the off-net voucher. The latter half of the publication focuses entirely on the perspectives of the providers. These perspectives are critical because the experience of these players will inform both how Tanzania develops and how other practitioners evaluate the opportunity of interoperability in their own markets.

Between the data and the providers, Tanzania has provided more evidence to help all industry stakeholders develop more realistic expectations of and a better understanding for account-to-account interoperability.  For example:

• Basic market prerequisites in Tanzania provided the right dynamic for early growth. Growth in Tanzania is promising, particularly given providers have taken a “wait and see” approach in the early days. For Airtel and Tigo, cross-net transactions now exceed off-net vouchers, and both cite double-digit monthly percentage growth. To capture this early organic growth, providers benefitted from (1) an enabling regulatory environment that encourages innovation, (2) strong operational foundations across all providers and (3) a commitment to the user experience, including honouring a consistent price for all P2P transfers – whether on-net or cross-net. Markets lacking these basic prerequisites may risk a harder road before reaping the benefits that interoperability can enable.

• Interoperability between providers can also be a catalyst for further investment in industry collaboration. There is a healthy diversity of perspectives and expectations from providers around the implementation and impact of domestic interoperability. However, what is clear is that the launch of this singular form of interoperability is part of, and in some cases reinforced by, an on-going strategy to capture the benefits of broader industry collaboration. Millicom, Vodacom and Airtel all explicitly expressed an interest to build on their experience and potentially extend interoperability to new use cases, such as merchant payments.

• The impact of interoperability is best measured over the long-term. Mobile money interoperability has further to go in Tanzania before it is close to the transaction volume processed through bank integrations or on-net P2P transfers. To accelerate that growth, the industry continues to explore how improvements to the technological and financial infrastructure could make mobile money interoperability more efficient. New investment in customer campaigns are also underway, and these investments will help evaluate the long-term growth ceiling and the extent of mass-market need for the functionality.
• Source: gsma

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Tigo Tanzania launches innovative nano (Tigo Nivushe) lending scheme to its customers

Tigo Nivushe poised to foster financial inclusion
Leading digital lifestyle company, Tigo (www.Tigo.co.tz), announced today that it will launch an easy to access nano lending product to its stable of mobile financial services. This new product will not require collateral and offers immediate access to small loans to Tigo Pesa users.

Tigo Head of Mobile Financial Services, Ruan Sawnepoel, said in a statement to the press today that for the first time the nano loans product, called Tigo Nivushe will allow Tigo Pesa customers to build their own credit history and being open to any Tigo Pesa customer turns the typical lending models upside down.  No security is required or taken and the loan product has been designed to be transparent and foster responsible lending.

Explaining the product’s flexibility, Swanepoel said Tigo Nivushe offers different lending periods with variable administrative costs based on the length of tenure. The loans – with an average of Tsh 10,000 (US$ 5) – are processed in real-time and funds transferred within minutes. As customers build up their credit history they are able to borrow higher amounts with lower administration fees.  Loans are delivered directly to the mobile wallet so customers can immediately use the funds to pay bills, transfer to others, or cash out at the thousands of agents across the country, he noted.

“Tigo Nivushe has been designed to encourage responsible lending. Previous mobile behaviour is used to determine suitable limits for loans and customers will only be able to have one loan at a time.  Protection against life shocks is included as everyone will be automatically insured for the loan amount against death or permanent disability. Most importantly, as the product is fee based no interest can be accumulated in the event of default and acquiring a loan will not affect mobile or Tigo Pesa accounts in any way, “ Swanepoel said.

The head of Mobile Financial Services further said: “We are thrilled today to be launching Tigo Nivushe. It is an essential product for driving financial inclusion, which is critical to Tanzania’s continued economic growth and success. These quite small loans can make all the difference and are crucial for building credit history and obtaining credit in the future.”

Disruptive E-money services, delivered through mobile phones have already changed the lives of millions of people. With this new responsible lending product, Tigo wants to change the way people think about lending, according to Ruan.

Source:Tigo

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Tigo Pesa, now the largest Mobile Financial Service eco-system in Tanzania

Tigo becomes the only operator in Tanzania to offer interoperability with Airtel, Vodacom and Zantel

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania, February 18, 2016/ -- Tigo Tanzania (www.Tigo.co.tz) announced today that customers of its Tigo Pesa mobile money service will now be able to move funds between any of the country’s mobile money operators, as Vodacom’s M-Pesa joins an interoperable network already set up by Tigo, Zantel and Airtel. Tigo becomes the only operator in Tanzania to offer interoperability with Airtel, Vodacom and Zantel.                                                            Vodacom’s participation means that more than 16 million mobile money users in Tanzania will be able to conduct transactions with one-another regardless of which mobile operator they use. It also creates Africa’s first universal interoperable mobile money network. In June 2014, Tigo, Airtel and Zantel announced a pioneering interoperability agreement. Since then, their customers have enjoyed interoperability between their mobile money accounts which has accounted for an increase of 3.5 times the value of total offline transactions. After announcing it would join the interoperable network one year ago, Vodacom has now implemented the deal. Interoperability in Tanzania today is not exclusive to mobile operators, and also includes more than 25 banks. The country’s 16 million mobile financial users transact the equivalent of more than 50% of Tanzania’s GDP each month. Thanks to this growing network, Tanzania is now the leading place for mobile money in east Africa, overtaking Kenya. Commenting on today’s announcement, Tigo Tanzania Head of Mobile Financial Services, Ruan Swanepoel, said: “With Tigo Pesa, customers will now benefit from faster, cheaper and safer cashless transactions with anyone across the country.” Swanepoel continued, “We believe interoperability is crucial to the success of mobile money and the wider goal of increasing financial inclusion. It is also a fundamental building block towards constructing a digital economy, enabling merchants and other start-ups to participate in the financial services ecosystem. Our aim going forward is to reach similar agreements with networks in other markets.” Distributed by APO (African Press Organization) on behalf of Tigo. SOURCE Tigo

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Tigo launches online remittance service in UK, EU and Canada can send money to Tigo Pesa wallets in Tanzania

Millicom has revealed the launch of sendmoney.tigo.com. According to the company, its customers in UK, European Union and Canada can send money to Tigo Pesa wallets in Tanzania in real time using the online portal.

The company revealed in a media release that there are plans to extend the service to include Tigo Cash wallets in other African countries., however, the company did not specify which countries as of yet.

Announcing the launch in London, Greg Reeve, General Manager, Mobile Financial Services said that Tigo’s new service will make transactions convenient, fast and secure for the Tanzania diaspora living in UK, European Union and Canada.

According to the company the online portal provides the same security standards as banks, with payments being processed through Verified by Visa and MasterCard SecureCode, and allows users to receive transfers safely and  quickly straight into their Tigo Pesa wallets. With one of the lowest transaction fees in the market, lower than any bank, sendmoney.tigo.com is one of the most safe and convenient ways to send remittances to Tanzania.

The World Bank has acknowledged Tanzania as a main recipient market for international remittances, with a total of USD64 million of transfers from Tanzanians living abroad in 2014 alone.

Greg Reeve said: “Historically customers had to travel long distances and carry large amounts of cash whenever they received money from abroad, an inconvenient and risky process. With the expansion of mobile remittances and  services like sendmoney.tigo.com, this is no longer the case. Our vision is to expand  services for our customers to fully benefit from their Tigo Pesa wallets.”

Source:itnewsafrica

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Vodacom and Tigo agree on mobile money interoperability

Millions of M-Pesa and Tigo Pesa customers in Tanzania will soon be able to send and receive money directly into each other’s wallets. This follows the recent signing of a mobile money interoperability agreement between Tigo and Vodacom.

The agreement announced today, will for the first time see four million Tigo Pesa users exchanging money directly with seven million M-Pesa customers. This is yet another tangible step towards the enhancement of financial inclusion in Tanzania as well as the expansion of the mobile money ecosystem in Tanzania. 

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) formulated the mobile-wallet-to wallet standards with support from Groupe Speciale Mobile Association (GSMA), (standards) which have been the basis of the interoperability discussions between mobile network operators in Tanzania.

Speaking at the signing ceremony in Dar es Salaam, Rene Meza, Vodacom Tanzania’s Managing Director said “This is a great evolution of the mobile money service in Tanzania. Our customers will soon be able to directly access the money received through Tigo Pesa and use it for whatever purposes they may have without necessarily having to cash it out.”

M-Pesa users can pay for an array of services from their phones. These include; TV subscriptions, Flights,  Insurance services, Utilities, Taxes, School fees, Pension Contributions  and Loans to name but a few.

In support of this, Meza says, "M-Pesa has added so much value to the lives of Tanzanians over the past seven years and the fact that this agreement with Tigo will see even more Tanzanians using our services to better their lives is indeed a major milestone.   We expect to launch the service by the end of the year and are currently working on upgrading our M-Pesa platform which will see us invest in excess of Tshs 150 billion/- to cater for the expected growth of users."

Meza went on to say that the agreement signed between the country’s two largest mobile operators’ networks would allow Vodacom’s M-Pesa users to directly send and receive money to an additional four million Tigo Pesa users across the country at no additional cost or inconvenience to them by the end of the year.

We are now working to ensure that we have both the technology and requisite resources needed to provide the quality of service that our customers have come to expect from us through the years…we are nevertheless excited about the opportunities posed by this new operating model. Our extensive agent network  which is over 85,000-strong as well as the enhancement of our M-Pesa service has  to date allowed our 7 million M-Pesa users  to be active players in the economy and we look forward to growing it even further. This is what making life better and financial inclusion is all about,” says Meza.

Source: Vodacom

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Tigo dishes out 80m/- to Kilimanjaro Marathon

THE Kilimanjaro Marathon for the first time will see Tigo Tanzania partnering with other companies to hold the internationally-recognised charity event that seeks to raise funds for good causes, such as environmental conservation around Mt. Kilimanjaro.

According to a statement made available to the ‘Daily News’, the telecommunications company will be sponsoring the Tigo Kili Half- Marathon, a 21- kilometre race, on March 1 and pledged to commit over 80m/- to the major event.

“Tigo’s spirit of participation in this event is borne out of commitment to the development of sports and every aspect of the social and economic of this country, including environmental conservation,” the newly appointed Tigo Tanzania Interim General Manager, Cecile Tiano, said in the statement.

Tiano said that Tigo recognised the ‘northern zone’ as a commercial and tourist hub in addition to being a gateway to other countries and has targeted the zone its investment commitment.

The northern zone which comprises Arusha, Manyara, Kilimanjaro, Singida and Dodoma regions has, according to Tiano, been a major beneficiary of Tigo’s sponsorships and corporate responsibility initiatives which seek to directly turn around the social welfare of the people in the areas of education, health, environment, entrepreneurship, job creation, arts and sports.

“Through our initiatives such as the Tigo Ngorongoro Run held every year in Karatu, the company, with its partners, has been able to inject and mobilize resources which go into buying mosquito nets that are distributed to schools and buying equipment for hospitals in Karatu district,” she said.

Tiano said that this year they plan to set up over 748 sites countrywide out of which 300 will be in the northern zone (already 334 towers exists) in a bid to ensure that residents of every village in the five regions get connected to their services.

At an average cost of 100,000 US dollars per site, this translates to investing over 75 million US dollars in the country with 30 million US dollars going into the five regions, Tiano said.

“This means giving more people new social and economic opportunities, integrating them to the global economy through internet access and, in the process, enabling them to embrace a digital lifestyle,” she remarked.

In the past two years, Tigo has been investing an average of two million US dollars per week on its infrastructure countrywide.

This investment has been put into expanding its networks by building new sites, even in the remotest villages, upgrading its network to 3G to enable people access data, training their workforce and giving back to communities through their corporate responsibility programmes.

Source:DailyNews

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Clients to settle hotel bills by Tigopesa

JOVAGO, an online hotel booking platform has announced its new partnership with Tigo where Tigopesa customers will now be able to pay for their accommodation booked on the platform with their Tigopesa account.

According to a statement made available to the Daily News, this comes at a time when integration of m-payments on online booking websites is seen as a crucial aspect in bolstering in the e-tourism industry.

“Africa is definitely moving on to the digital world, as part of this move we want to take in consideration the local market demands and habits, thus structure our strategies in response to the needs,” said the Jovago Managing Director, Ms Estelle Verdier.

This is the 2nd integration of a mobile payment service provider on the booking platform and the partnership allows guests more online convenience and speed in the booking process.

Ms Verdier said the partnership gives the customer yet another option for efficiency on top of the available card payments and pay-onarrival model.

Source:Dailynews

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We are far away from bankruptcy, says TTCL

TANZANIA Telecommunications Company Limited (TTCL) said on Thursday it is far away from insolvency because its main business is expected to increase by 50 per cent this year.

TTCL’s main business is networking firms via broadband, internet bandwidth and wholesale administration and said it has so far signed projects worth 15bn/- this year. Last year it had projects worth 10bn/-.

The firm’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr Kamugisha Kazaura, said the contracts at hand involved only corporate clients, while there was a lot expected this year.

“Though we (TTCL) are facing financial challenges but the business ahead is very promising and we are far from liquidation,” Dr Kazaura told the ‘Daily News’ during the National Insurance Corporation (NIC) fibre cable project handover.

The CEO said the issue of bankruptcy was the result of poor interpretation and analysis of TTCL monetary state of affairs, but the firm’s operations are ‘sound.’

“Currently, we are in discussions with the government to turn what they owe us into capital,” Dr Kazaura said. He did not go into details.

TTCL, which handles the national fibre-optic cable network also termed as the National ICT Broadband Backbone (NICTBB), said currently all Tanzania’s neighbours were at their subscription docket.

TTCL’s Chief of Sales and Marketing, Mr Peter Ngota, said by July the firm will start offering mobile phone services using 3G and 4G’s network.

“Previously we concentrated on corporate customers but come July we want to offer 100 per cent mobile services in the country,’ Mr Ngota said.

He said TTCL will use satellite in the areas where tele-signal are weak as a measure to assure superior quality and efficiency to its customers countrywide.

Last week, TTCL signed a 182-million US dollars deal with Chinese’s Huawei Technologies to upgrade and expand its fixed and wireless networks.

Under the terms of the contract - the first phase of which is expected to conclude in June where Huawei will upgrade the TTCL’s 2G and 3G networks and also deploy 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology.

The agreement will also see Huawei deploy networks in rural areas in line with a Universal Communications Service Access Fund (UCSAF) contract won by TTCL in February 2014.

Through the NICTBB, Tanzania has been connected with East Africa’s submarine cable networks including SEACOM, EASSY and SEAS.

TTCL connects Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Zambia and Malawi through fire optical cable. At the moment, TTCL is supplying 1.0 gigabytes of internet bandwidth to Rwanda, the 10 year deal worth 6.7-million US dollars.

Meanwhile, Dr Kamugisha said they have reconnected the local government optical cable network after an agreement with the government over the mode of payment which he did want to disclose.

Source:Dailynews

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TIGO TANZANIA AND DEEZER LAUNCH 36 MILLION-TRACK MUSIC STREAMING SERVICE

Dar es Salaam, January 13th, 2015.  Tigo today announced the launch of Tigo Music through a partnership with Deezer, the international music streaming service that will provide Tanzanians with unlimited music experience.

Announcing the launch of the new service in Dar es Salaam, Tigo Brand Manager, William Mpinga said through pre-paid data bundles from January 24, Tigo customers will be able to access more than 36 million tracks, including African and Tanzanian artistes, on their phones and tablets.

Additionally, Tigo will also be sourcing exciting new and local content through a new venture with the digital music company, Africa Music Rights, which funds, acquires and manages music rights across the African continent. Mpinga said.

There will be a launch ceremony for Tigo Music at Dar es Salaam’s Leaders Club grounds on January 24 where members of the public will be treated to live performances by leading local musicians such as Diamond Platinum, Ali Kiba, Professor J, Vanessa Mdee, Ben Paul, Isha Mashauzi, Malaika Band, Khadija Kopa, Yamoto Band, Msondo, Sikinde among others.

Apart from giving Tigo customers unlimited access to local and international music, Tigo Music, according to Mr. Mpinga, will accord local artists with an opportunity earn extra payment from their songs listened to through the service. Tigo will provide them training on how to use and benefit from the service, he said.

“Tigo Tanzania is a company built on innovation. We are excited to be the first telecommunication company in Tanzania to give our customers such access to unlimited music.

“As a digital lifestyle brand, our goal is to impact the music industry by providing a platform that not only allows for easy access to content by local artists, but also train our musicians on important issues such as intellectual property rights and marketing. This is our way of supporting local talent and growing the local music industry.” he added.

Tigo will introduce a variety of music service packages which will allow customers access through *148*00#.

The introduction of Tigo Music in Tanzania follows the success of its launch in Ghana in 2014 and Latin America in 2013. It has since become an integral part of people’s daily digital lives and synonymous with live music events headlined by some of the world’s best-known artists as well as with close-up studio recordings.

Music streaming is the fastest growing area for the global music industry and music content is already the second most popular mobile phone feature in sub-Saharan Africa.

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Tigo Pesa users in Tanzania receive $1.8m profit

Telecoms company Tigo today announced its Tigo Pesa mobile money customers would receive the first of its regular quarterly payments worth US$1.8 million.

Three months ago Tigo paid a profit of US$ 8.64 million accumulated in the Tigo Pesa Trust Account and became the first mobile money service in the world to pay profit to its users.

Tigo General Manager Diego Gutierrez said “This second round of profit disbursement shows the company’s continued commitment to benefit and improve the lives of Tanzanians. The payment goes to all Tigo Pesa users including super agents, retail agents and individual users of the service.

“The first payment was bigger due to the fact that the profit had been accumulated over a period of three and a half years. This second payment is the profit accumulated from funds held in trust in commercial banks for three months in the quarter July to September 2014.”

Tigo Pesa has a subscriber base of 3.6 million customers and the average return to a customer will vary based on their average daily balance in their Tigo Pesa e-wallet. This applies to super-agents, retail agents and individual customers.

It also announced next installment for the quarter of October to December 2014 will be paid out in February 2015.

Source:humanipo

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CRDB Bank upgrades SIM banking

IN a bid to provide efficient and secure services, CRDB Bank has further improved its SIM Banking to accommodate new features that give customers the conveniences to perform more transactions at any location in the world.

Mobile phones have clearly shown that they can be an effective channel to provide financial services including remittances, savings or even loans.

So, banks have an opportunity to utilise mobile phones to reach out to their customers. This was unveiled at the weekend by the CRDB Bank Managing Director, Dr Charles Kimei, at a news conference on improvement made on SIM Banking.

"CRDB Bank is always seeking to create easy and less cost accessibility to the banking services to its customers," he said, adding this is why the bank is incorporating its services with the fast changing mobile money technology which is the future of the banking sector.

Dr Kimei urged its customers to register with the SIM Banking established in 2008, which gives them best and different options of performing bank transactions at any location.

Currently, over 300,000 CRDB Bank customers are using SIM Banking in its database with over one million customers.

According to Finscope 2013 report, more than 30 million Tanzanians own or use mobile phone but only 12 million use the cellphones to perform money transactions.

Statistics reveal further that the bankable population is around 17 per cent of the 45 million total population. The data offers the banking sector with the huge opportunity to spread its services to the unbankable population in rural areas, thus complimenting the government initiative of financial inclusion.

The CRDB Manager Electronic Banking, Mr Mangire Kibanda, said the bank has simplified the SIM Banking registration where customers register for themselves without visiting the bank branches.

SIM Banking present customers with an easy, hassle-free and convenient way to pay your bills like electricity, water, and airtime. Some of the companies incorporated into the SIM Banking include Dawasco, Moruwasa and Startimes. Also, money transactions through M-PESA and TIGO-Pesa.

The CRDB Director of Risk and Compliance, Mr James Mabura, cautioned customers to avoid disclosing the bank account particulars to people or hackers, who present themselves as CRDB staff having an ill will to steal their money.

Also, he urged customers to keep secure their pin number which are used in performing ATM and mobile money transactions.

Source:Dailynews

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Tigo Pesa App,HOW TO GET STARTED

HOW TO GET STARTED

1. The application is be available in App stores for IOS and Android or from the links is available in our website.
2. Once you have downloaded the App, to start using it you will need to register your device being a mobile phone or an Ipad.
3. Your will use your Tigo number that is registered to Tigo Pesa and your Tigo Pesa PIN to register your device.
4. If your device does not automatically insert the Authentication code,  please go to your SMS inbox and copy the code and paste it to where it say “Enter your received code”
5. Once all the details are filled, make sure you agree with the ‘Terms and Conditions’ then click  “ok” to complete registration and you are ready to start using the APP.

FREQUENT ASKED QUESTIONS

1. How do I download the app?
   The customer can download the application by following the link which is found at the Tigo pesa website or the broadcast message sent to them. They can also visit the app stores of Apple and Android and download it directly from the stores.
2. Where do I get the link/download the app?
   The link can be found on Tigo-Pesa website, or visiting the App stores directly via your devices.
3. How long does it take to download the app?
   The application can take a couple of minutes depending on the speed of your internet connection 
4. Do I get charged more using the app?
   No. Normal Tigo Pesa charges will apply and data service through Tigo will not be charged when using the Tigo Pesa App.
5. Do I get charged when downloading the app?
   There are no charges for the customer to download the Tigo Pesa application
6. Are all the services available on the app?
   All the services which are currently available on Tigo pesa through USSD, will also be available on the smartphone application.
7. What if my app is giving me an error?
   If that happens:  Check if your phone has an internet connection or alternatively contact Tigo customer care. 
8. What do I need to qualify to use the app?
   All you need is: Your IOS or android phone with data/wifi and your registered Tigo number
9. Can I use it on another network?
   Yes, it doesn’t matter which network you’re using , as long as you are a registered Tigo Pesa user and are able to receive the SMS code which will be sent to the registered Tigo Pesa number
10. Do I use the same PIN?
    Yes, you will use the same Tigo Pesa PIN used when accessing through USSD *150*01# 
11. What if I lose my phone/device?
    You should call customer care to ensure the device is deregistered, you can also download the the Tigo Pesa app on the new device and continue using it 
12. Can my money be stolen if I lose my phone/device?
    No your money will be safe since your wallet is still protected by your Tigo Pesa PIN.
13. How do I know if my phone supports the app?
    You can visit the website to view the list of supported devices this might be updated periodically as new devices are added to the list.
14. What if I forgot my password?
    You can reset your password by calling Tigo customer care on 100, or visiting any of our Tigo Shops.
15. Does the app works anywere in Tanzania?
    Yes, the application works anywhere in Tanzania as long as your device has wifi/data connection, it also works anywhere in the world as long as your device/handset has wifi/data connection.
16. Which language is the app in?
    The application can either be in Swahili or English, the user has an option of changing it any time in the App itself.
17. Can I still save my bill pay reference?
    Yes, you can save and delete at any time. The application gives you a choice of saving the reference each time you perform a transaction
18. How secure is the app?
    The app uses the latest security feature to protect you as the consumer, but we would like to remind our customers of the importance of never sharing your PIN with anybody, and to note that Tigo staff will never require you to provide us with your PIN.
19. Will my number work for both *150*01# and application?
    Yes you can continue using both the *150*01# short code and the Tigo Pesa application.
20. Can I install the Tigo Pesa App on more than one device?
    Yes you can install the application on multiple devices at the same time and access from any of your registered devices, you can view all your registered devices and also easily deregister devices from within the Tigo Pesa application.

Download here:

Android:https: //play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=tz.tigo.mfsapp

iphone Appstore:https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tigo-pesa-tanzania/id825924072?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D4

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Tigo Tanzania’s Obedi Laiser in America as nominee for global awards

An employee of Tigo Tanzania, Obedi Laiser, the Finance and Risk Manager – Mobile Financial Services, is among those nominated for a global award for his performance at the company and is the USA this week for a ceremony organised by Tigo’s owner, Millicom.

Tigo’s General Manager, Diego Gutierrez, nominated Laiser, for the awards and said he had shown real determination as an individual and team member through his contribution to Tigo in the past year.
“We are really proud of Laiser and his nomination and everyone in Tigo Tanzania will be cheering him on next week. We wish him good luck,” Gutierrez said.

At the event in the USA this week, 21 nominees from all Millicom’s operations and headquarters in the fifteen countries across Africa and Latin America where Millicom operates will be considered for seven awards, including Employee of the Year.

Katika Picha, Mfanyakazi bora wa mwaka wa Tigo Tanzania Obedi Laiser akikabidhiwa tiketi ya ndege na Mkurugenzi Mkuu wa Tigo Diego Gutierrez kwenda kushiriki kinyanganyiro cha Global Award ambayo ni zawadi ya juu zaidi kutolewa kwa wafanyakazi bora wa kampuni zinazomilikiwa na kampuni ya Millicom. Tuzo zinatolewa wiki Miami, Florida nchini Marekani.

About Tigo:

Tigo started operations in 1994 as the first cellular network in Tanzania. It now covers 30 regions in mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar.  Tigo strives to be Tanzania’s most innovative mobile phone operator, offering services ranging from affordable mobile voice communications to high speed Internet access and mobile financial services through Tigo Pesa.

Tigo is part of Millicom which provides affordable, widely accessible and readily available cellular telephone services to more than 50 million customers in 13 emerging markets in Africa and Latin America.

The success of Tigo is based on the "Triple A" strategy, which stands for Affordability, Accessibility and Availability. We create a world where mobile services are affordable, accessible and available everywhere and to all. This guarantees that our subscribers experience the best services at the most affordable rates throughout all 30 regions in both Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar.

Source:TigoTanzania

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Phone companies partner on e-money transactions

Tigo, Airtel and Zantel on Wednesday signed an agreement allowing its customers in Tanzania send money to each other on their mobile handsets.

"The service will start by end of this month. This is the first agreement in Africa to adopt such 'interoperability' whereby Mobile network operators allows their customer to send and receive money across the network and the e-money goes direct to the respective customer e-wallet account, " it was announced on Wednesday.

CHIEF Executive Officers of three mobile phone companies (from left to right), Zantel’s, Prapat Ghose, Tigo’s, Diego Gutierrez and Airtel Managing Director, Sunil Colaso join hands together to mark the launch of a new Mobile Financial System (MFS) Interoperability Partnership at a short ceremony held in Dar es Salaam on Wednesday.

The joint press statement also listed other benefits customers of the three companies would enjoy as the ability to send money at more affordable rates and in a simplified way which does not require use of PIN codes when making withdrawals as had been the practice before signing of the agreement.

Tigo's General Manager for Tanzania, Mr Diego Gutierrez, commented, "We are delighted to work with Airtel and Zantel to extend the mobile money universe in Tanzania.

"With even more transactions possible, our customers' money is made even more safe and secure with this technology. Just as we co-operate with our competitors on voice calls and text to help our customers, so we hope to be able to do the same with mobile money and help make Tanzania a global pioneer in digital financial inclusion."

On his part Airtel Managing Director Sunil Colaso said: "Airtel is committed to introduce to our customers new innovative services that look beyond competition, a tremendous evolution to ensure mobile inclusion that is sought by many Tanzanians taking into account our reach across the country."

"Today's partnership will bring our customers closer to mobile service and ease their use of mobile money services," added Mr Colaso.

Zantel's Managing Director Pratap Ghose, said "Zantel has a strong commitment to excellence and innovation, and thus is happy about this partnership which will enable all our customers to conduct their businesses efficiently and with ease across Tanzania.

"Zantel is proud to have been the pioneer in launching Mobile payments in 2008; and hence will work with the industry and the regulatory bodies to ensure that we offer 'best in class' service to our customers", added Mr Ghose.
Source:Dailynews

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TANZANIA’S TIGO, AIRTEL & ZANTEL LAUNCH AFRICA’S FIRST MOBILE MONEY INTEROPERABILITY

Three of Tanzania's four mobile networks, Tigo, Airtel and Zantel have announced Africa's first agreement to allow their customers in the country to send money to each other whether using Tigo Pesa, Airtel Money or EzyPesa on their mobile handsets.

The service is expected to begin this month.

This is the first agreement in Africa to adopt interoperable mobile money services, whereby one network allows another network's customers to send money to its own clients.

With this agreement, the potential number of customers able to send money by mobile to each other in Tanzania, regardless of network, will increase to over sixteen million.

Airtel, Zantel and Tigo welcomed today the recent statement by Vodafone supporting the principle of such interoperability and expect to conclude a similar agreement with Vodacom in Tanzania.

Tigo has over 6.2 million customers in Tanzania overall and 3.4m users of its Tigo Pesa mobile money service.

In February 2014, Millicom launched the world's first cross-border mobile money service with currency conversion between Tanzania and Rwanda.

source:cellularnews

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Tigo launches first Mobile Financial Services Smartphone App in East Africa

Tigo Tanzania has unveiled the first mobile financial services application in East Africa that enables Android and iOS users in the country to access their Tigo Pesa wallet much more conveniently and in a much simpler way than ever before.  

Addressing the press at the company head office in Dar es Salaam, Tigo’s Head of Financial Services Andrew Hodgson, said “From now on smartphone users in the country, can do all Tigo Pesa transactions including making payments, bank transfers, sending money and recharging, much faster and easier with the Tigo Pesa app.”

Hodgson added “You can now view all your contacts stored on your phone when choosing to send money via the Tigo Pesa application and you can also save your regular payments and bank transfer for quick access in future.”

He said with this application – known as Tigo Pesa Application - a customer will not be charged for data when accessing the application on the Tigo network, customers will also be able to access their  Tigo Pesa wallet from anywhere in the world through Wi-Fi or any mobile data connection available as long as they have a registered Tigo Pesa account.

“Another benefit that this application brings to mobile financial account holders in the country is giving them the ability to easily access and conveniently manage a single wallet from multiple devices,” the head of mobile financial services said.

This application comes barely two weeks after Tigo announced a move to provide free access to Facebook services to its customers, a development Hodgson says, “is in line with the company’s continued commitment to innovation and providing user friendly experiences to its customers.”

Describing the Tigo Pesa Application as an innovation that makes life easier, Hodgson said to download it, all a person needs to have is a Tigo registered simcard/number and a smart phone that uses the iOS or android operating systems.

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Service providers advised to go digital in financing the poor

Digital payments can reduce transaction costs by up to 90 per cent, through greater efficiency, sustainability and accessibility to the poor, a new report says.

A report released by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and McKinsey & Company on channels through which financial service providers can effectively target low income earners added digital payments also lower costs for financial providers.

 Tamara Cook, a programme officer of financial services for the poor at the Gates Foundation, said the system will allow them a more secure way to send and receive money as well as spend and transfer it.

“We wanted to learn more about the costs associated with current payment systems and find ways to provide poor people in developing countries with affordable, efficient and secure ways to send and receive money,” said Cook .

Making financial services available through phones is a way to extend access to people in remote areas, where it is unlikely residents have access to a bank.

 “More than two-thirds of people in developing countries don’t have access to a bank account of any kind,” Cook said.

 “By moving the poor away from cash, it allows them a more affordable and secure way to spend and transfer money. And because digital transactions can reduce costs to financial providers by up to 90 per cent, it becomes an attractive business proposition.”

 Financial institutions have also been advised on the need to step up and change the way they do business.

“There’s a huge market out there waiting for them – more than 2.5 billion people. Until now, many banks had viewed these markets as requiring too much infrastructure investment,” said Cook

She added that if steps are taken to increase efficiency in payment methods and reduce costs in the current system, even the poorest markets can be worthwhile investments.

 The report was released during the recently concluded AITEC Banking and Mobile Money COMESA conference in Nairobi.

source:humanipo

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Mobile money not customer friendly

The current mobile money climate is not a customer friendly experience, according to Ruan Swanepoel, commercial manager of Tigo Pesa Tanzania.

Swanepoel was involved in a panel discussion on the second day of the 2014 Mobile Money and Digital Payments conference in Johannesburg, South Africa.

He said operators are currently forcing customers to cash out and put money into other ecosystems, speaking of the lack of mobile money interoperability.

“When customers are allowed to transact across networks, it creates the opportunity for the industry to move forward,” he said.

Swanepoel said interoperability would provide a bigger ecosystem for mobile operators to function within, however the panel decided it is easier to talk about than to implement.

Sadiq Malik, principal consultant at the Broadband Gurus Network and moderator of the panel, agreed with Swanepoel’s point.

“The pie will become bigger,” he said.

Yesterday the lack of interoperability is hurting the mobile money market, with only 10 out of 150 mobile money operators seeing success.

Sadiq said the GSM Association (GSMA) is imploring banks and mobile operators to allow for interoperability so that over-the-top (OTT) providers do not monopolise the market.

The GSMA and nine mobile operators in African and the Middle East announced plans to accelerate interoperable mobile money platforms.

Bharti Airtel, Etisalat Group, Millicom, MTN Group, Ooredoo Group, Orange, STC Group, Vodafone Group and Zain Group – which jointly account for 582 million mobile connections across 48 countries in Africa and the Middle East – signed up for the initiative.

source:humanipo

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