Mobile network operator Digicel Pacific is launching a new
mobile money service this week in the Kingdom of Tonga, a sovereign
archipelago in the South Pacific.
Digitel’s mobile money service will be supported by Verifone’s
m-wallet that comes with an NFC-enabled solution.
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“Combining our existing Mobile Money product with VeriFone m-wallet
services and NFC acceptance systems helps us offer our subscribers
an easy, convenient and integrated mobile money experience”, said
Darren McLean, commercial director of Digicel Pacific.
Digitel’s m-money service uses NFC tags from Digicel linked to
mobile numbers and VeriFone’s contactless payment acceptance
systems. This way, Digicel Tonga subscribers can pay at the
POS.
The companies said that there are currently 50 merchants in the
capital of Nuku’alofa taking part in the mobile money service and
they plan to extend it to the entire Pacific Island nation.
“We think this will open the way to making Mobile Money the
everyday means of payment in our Pacific markets, from
groceries, airtime top-up and utility bills, through to wages and
government payments ” added McLean.
Digitel’s NFC wallet does not require from customers to have a bank
account. The service targets unbanked citizens, a majority in a
country where card penetration is also remarkably low.
The new service also targets the mobile remittances market as more
than 30% of Toga’s GDP comes from remittances. The companies said
Digicel’s subscribers can receive remittances from New Zealand
directly into their mobile phone at a lower cost than traditional
money transfer operators offer.
Tonga’s Minister of Finance, Sunia Fili, pointed out that the new
service brings financial inclusion to Tonga’s unbanked. “Being the
first country to offer an all-inclusive payment system like this
places Tonga in front of the most advanced economies in the world”,
he added.
