Airtel Uganda announced the launch of its virtual debit card offering to provide a safe, easy and secure platform for global online transactions for its customers.
The partnership had been announced on October last year, when Mastercard started collaboration with several African companies to drive digital inclusion.
The virtual card allows Airtel Money customers, even those without a bank account, to make payments to local and global online merchants that accept Mastercard cards like Netflix, Uber, Amazon, Google play, Aliexpress, Alibaba, while ensuring that the customer’s financial data is always secure and private.
The collaboration was revealed last October, when Mastercard began working to encourage digital inclusion with several African companies.
The virtual card allows Airtel Money customers to make payments to local and global online retailers that accept Mastercard cards such as Netflix, Uber, Amazon, Google Play, Aliexpress, Alibaba, even those without a bank account, while ensuring that the financial data of the customer is still safe and confidential.
“Our mobile money services are changing customers’ lives across Africa. This innovative partnership will help Airtel feature phone customers upgrade to smartphones and pay with Airtel Money on flexible instalment plans. This opens up the digital economy and creates additional opportunities for Africa’s entrepreneurs.” said Raghunath Mandava, CEO of Airtel Africa.
Across Africa, there are 14 markets being considered, beginning with Uganda. This collaboration builds on Mastercard and Airtel Africa’s wider digital transformation partnership across sub-Saharan Africa. Tanzania, Rwanda, Kenya, Nigeria, DRC, Gabon, Malawi, Zambia, Madagascar, Seychelles, Chad, Niger and Congo Brazzaville are among the other markets. This collaboration also builds on Samsung’s global partnership to include mobile devices for Pay-on-Demand.
Executive Vice President for Market Development, Mastercard Middle East and Africa, Amnah Ajmal said “Across the MEA region our digital partnerships strategy remains focused on enabling digital transformation for our partners so that their consumers can enjoy seamless access to payments and a superior experience. We are very excited to partner with Airtel to lead the transition to digital by enabling access to their millions of consumers for online and in-person payments across the globe. Mastercard is uniquely positioned as a single technology provider to enable our digital partners like Airtel to transition seamlessly into digital.”
Educator, writer and legal researcher at Alafarika for Studies and Consultancy.