The international remittance market is currently estimated at more than US$320 billion. It is expected to reach US$700 billion by 2012. On the other hand, the rapid growth of the mobile phone industry in low income countries has opened up yet another avenue, the international airtime transfer (IAT), through which folks in diaspora help to improve the quality of life in their home countries.
The behind-the-scenes agreements between IAT companies, mobile operators and the authorities are generally complex. For users, IAT is, however, very simple, quick and effective, with the value arriving directly onto a recipients handset in a few minutes at most.
In my preliminary search for IAT companies that offer their services in African countries, I discovered these three companies:
- Ukash – Apart from using Ukash vouchers for making payments online, you can also use them to send airtime to your loved ones abroad. Currently, African destinations include Cameroon, Egypt, Mali, and Morocco.
- TransferTo – Their instant top-up interface shows Egypt as the only African recipient. Recent reports, however, indicate that courtesy of Zain, Ghana has joined the TransferTo recipient network.
- Globaltopup – African destinations include Kenya, Nigeria, Egypt, and Cameroon.
As you can see, only a handful African countries are benefiting from the IAT industry. This industry is still at a nascent stage. It will certainly explode in the next few years.
Due to the unavailability of currency in some countries, airtime is being used to purchase goods and services. Some mobile money experts argue that using airtime as a means of barter is extremely dangerous. But I don’t agree with their way of thinking.
If two or more people agree to exchange airtime for goods or services and all of them are satisfied with the deal, what would be the problem with that? After all, bartering is here to stay, not only in low income countries, but also in developed ones.
When I was growing up at Mzokoto in Rumphi, Malawi, we could carry bricks to a construction site and in return we were paid notebooks and pens; some folks would come from the lakeshore areas with their fish (nyakamunjuku, gandu, vibomo) and exchange it with maize flour in Mzokoto and surrounding areas; the more affluent folks (by village standards) would engage the services of other villagers in their gardens and give them used clothes in return. These habits continue up to this very day.
According to Simon Cavill, in some recipient countries, it is currently possible for consumers to redeem airtime into cash at some operator outlets. Whether it is going to be used for barter or cash exchange, international airtime transfer promises to be a huge boon to African and other low income countries.
If you have some information on IAT companies featuring African destinations, give me a shout and I will update the list above accordingly.
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10 users commented in " International Airtime Transfer to African countries "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackI like the developments. However, the challenge still remains for us to remit money, for various legal reasons, outside the country. So far what I see is very discouraging.
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Clement Nyirenda says:
August 31st, 2010 at 11:43 am
I have observed that you are based in Malawi, where it is even more difficult to remit money to other countries. The forex problems further aggravate this problem. Next time, you want to make an international payment, you can make arrangement with Malawians in the diaspora who regularly make cash transfers to Malawi. You can take a look at this article. I have used these tactics for a long time and I am always satisfied.
So far, banks have been very unfair on international cash transfers. But with the emergence of mobile money, international airtime transfer and disruptive technologies such as UKash, the future looks good.
[Reply]
Sunganani says:
February 11th, 2011 at 10:26 am
I know NBS Bank is offering debit cards (see http://www.nbsmw.com). You can transact up to $3000 per month.What you could do is to link up your card (takes 3 weeks to get – in theory) to a paypal account as a safety measure) the send money out of Malawi.
$3,000/month may not be much but it’s a start.
Hope this helps.
Sunganani´s last [type] ..Why Does Marriage Require Continuous Adjustment
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I run a website-builder online and have recently been getting project proposals from Africa based companies and they would like to hire me for Quadracentifiable Website-Building, but it seems that it will be a problem since they are having problems with money transfer. Is there any other possible options that we can use? Thanks!
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Jim,
It depends on where you are but you might want to take a look at alertpay.com You will need to send your clients invoices for them to be able to pay you. Alertpay is like paypal except that they cover a lot more countries.
Hope it helps
Sunganani´s last [type] ..Driving Your Automatic Car Efficiently- Decoding the Gear
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What does airtime consist of ? Is it just some sort of credit to use your mobile phone ? or is it he transfer of mobile units that can be exchanged for cash ?
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Clement Nyirenda says:
November 3rd, 2010 at 12:03 pm
It is just the transfer of mobile units which you can use on your phone. In some cases, people are, however, exchanging them for cash.
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Hi Clement,
Very interesting. TransferTo now offers airtime transfers to more african countries including DRC, Nigeria, Kenya (Safaricom & Yu),Congo, Benin, Tunisia, Morocco, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Senegal, Mali, Niger, Congo, Central African Rep., Madagascar, Cameroon….I actually don’t know of another provider offering access to that many african countries….all can be paid, using Ukash.
[Reply]
This was an excellent article. I agree that bartering is a part of life in most countries. Trading airtime seems like it would be fine if both parties are satisfied. I really don’t see the issue with it. I wonder how long it will be until more companies jump into this market?
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Apart from Ukash, you can now make IAT at TransferTo using Paypal…..much better!
For my Tanzanian friends….Vodacom is now available!
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