Tanzania: Government seeks to extend mobile money interoperability. (image: TransUnion)
The Tanzanian government has urged Mobile Money operators, within the country, to register transactions with a central banking infrastructure as authorities seek to extend interoperability to all service providers.
The interoperability agreement will enable customers to make payments from the mobile money account of one provider to the mobile money account of another provider.
New regulations state that operators must connect services to the National Switch – the platform already used by other finance providers to ease fund transfer and expand customer access to banking infrastructure such as ATMs.
Tanzania became the first country in Africa to introduce interoperability between mobile money services in 2014. The proposed policy will enable instant transfers between customers of different providers.
According to a report by The Citizen, telecommunication operators have been given until 28 February 2018 to connect to the National Switch. The National Switch entails a central infrastructure of all payment systems for service providers that will reduce costs, according to the government. It will also make the service accessible to all Tanzanians.
Edited by Fundisiwe Maseko
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