MTN Uganda, working with Fundamo, says it has registered 890,000 users for its MobileMoney service, representing 16 per cent of its subscriber base. The operator says it expects to have 2m users by the end of the year, and 3.5m by 2012. MTN Uganda has processed 11.8m transactions, totaling $195m (£133m) through the platform, since its launch in March 2009. The average transaction is $21, and approximately 60 per cent of transfers are to recipients in rural areas.

“We are proud of our achievement, and recognise that the key to success is understanding the nature of a rapidly growing marketplace and customer requirements,” says MTN Uganda CEO, Themba Khumalo. “We have taken a direct sales approach to educate and provide access to subscribers who are unfamiliar with electronic financial services. Across Uganda we have 2,500 agents and more than 1,000 MobileMoney service outlets to ensure customers understand and can take full advantage of the services offered to them.”

MTN MobileMoney is a SIM card deployment. The SIM card’s cryptographic features mean it can securely encrypt highly sensitive and confidential data, such as bank account numbers and PINs, transaction records and other data.