Bharti Airtel Telecom Co. has signed a memorandum of understanding with Pan-African banking group Ecobank Transnational Inc. to provide mobile-banking services across Africa, the companies announced June 7.
The companies signed the agreement in Nigeria, and they plan to make it operational by the end of this year across the 14 countries in Africa where both Ecobank and Bharti Airtel have a presence, according to a press release.
The focus of the agreement is to serve the unbanked and underbanked populations in the target countries, the companies noted in the release.
The services will include person-to-person and business-to-business mobile-funds-transfer services under the brand names of Ecobank Mobile and Airtel Money once legal and regulatory approvals are achieved.
Airtel and Ecobank have already successfully partnered in Ghana and Niger Republic, on the back of which the two decided to expand their partnership across Africa, the release said.
India-based Bharti Airtel has been operating in Africa since 2010 when it took over the assets and operations of Zain Telecommunications Co.
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