NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Monday, March 16, 2015

Bharti Airtel, the leading global telecommunications services provider with operations in 20 countries across Africa and Asia, has today announced the launch of a cross-border money-transfer service for Airtel Money customers between The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Zambia and Rwanda.

This initiative will extend the level of convenience already experienced by Airtel Money customers in the countries, facilitating increased remittances and regional trades at very low cost with ubiquitous distribution network. Already, Airtel Money has in excess of 20,000 agents across the three countries.

The average fee to remit money in Africa is the highest of any region in the world; it is cited by the ODI (Overseas Development Institute) as lying anywhere between 12%-20%. The World Bank recently reported that an additional $4 billion could go into the hands of Africans if international remittance fees fell to 5% (G8 average) , adding further to the positive social and economic impacts of remittances as a source of income.

Commenting on the development, Christian de Faria, CEO, Airtel Africa said: “This offering will raise the level of convenience in cross border payments across the 3 countries with a ubiquitous Airtel Money agency network and highly competitive fee structure. We are committed to deepening financial inclusion and regional trade opportunities in sub-Saharan Africa and Airtel Money offers a secure, cost effective and quick way of helping the communities enhance both trade and personal financial transactions.”

Mr. De Faria highly commended the respective central banks in DRC, Rwanda and Zambia for their unwavering support for this initiative and commitment towards ensuring the long term success of the service.