MTN has launched payments and remittance features within its MoMo app, doubling down on its fintech and mobile money play in South Africa.

MTN South Africa has launched payments and remittance services on its MoMo mobile app. The services will enable MTN users to send cash abroad and businesses to accept payments at a 4% service fee, which the company claims is half of what incumbents currently charge.

It has partnered with fintech platform Clicksendnow to provide the service in Zambia, Ghana, Cameroon, Rwanda, Uganda, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Congo-Brazzaville, Benin, Guinea Conakry and Guinea Bissau. Users can send money to recipients across over 10 African countries where MTN is present. Recipients will also need to be signed up for the service. The company currently the leading telco across the continent, with a subscriber base of 223 million, according to their internal figures. 

“At MTN, we are committed to offering an alternative to expensive banking services. We are achieving this by introducing value-added platforms to our services that offer device users cheaper, more accessible options,” said Bradwin Roper, chief financial services officer at MTN South Africa.

In addition to the payments and remittance, MTN also launched point-of-sale devices that merge payments and other services, including airtime purchases into one device. Through this move, MTN will compete with South African startup YOCO, whose flagship product is a device that allows small businesses and informal traders to take payments. After raising an $83 million Series C in 2021, the startup was in negotiations to raise an additional $150 million, according to Axios.

According to Roper, the telco will also in the near future expose an application programming interface (API) to allow third-party developers to build on the platform.