Ultimate Media

Uganda Telecom has joined the growing mobile money market with a big promise to its subscribers to enjoy mobile banking financial transactions in every part of Uganda.

Though coming late on the scene after MTN and Zain started their mobile money transfer services, Uganda Telecom has launched its mobile money service to be called M-Sente.

Many people using mobile phones for financial transactions

The Chief Technical Officer of Utl, Tesfai Menghistab says since many Ugandans are unbanked, the M-sente is targeting mobile phone customers who are not able to benefit from conventional banking services because of having insufficient incomes to bank or just find banks far away.

He said Uganda Telecom is partnering with MAP – a global financial infrastructure provider and Dfcu Bank to ensure the service is reliable and reaches as many Ugandans as possible.

Whether customers will be impressed with the smaller fee of transferring money (500 shillings per transaction while MTN and ZAP charge according to the amount being transferred), the launch of M-Sente is bound to improve the financial services in the sector and continue to underline the increase role of technologies in banking.

Uganda Telecom, Warid Telecom and Zain are now working with Standard Chartered Bank’s Mobile banking facility where their customers can pay bills like water, power and subscription through the mobile phone. This is yet another indication that the mobile money market is growing and much is at stake for mobile phone companies and banks.