MTN MoMo is a fintech product providing consumers and businesses with an electronic wallet by enabling instant customer-customer money transfer, utility, and essential payments as well as access to digital and financial services through a single shortcode or MY MTN App.

At the end of June 2021, MTN MoMo had 48.9 million active users and over 581,514 merchants. The service also enables businesses to accept and make payments through the Momo Pay sub-service. And now, the new partnership will enable Flutterwave to offer MTN Mobile Money as a payment method to its business customers.

Through the new partnership, MTN and Flutterwave will positively contribute to the growing trend of increased mobile money usage, and penetration in Africa through improving local economies and livelihoods as well as create opportunities for customers across the continent.

Commenting on the partnership, Olugbenga “GB” Agboola, Founder and CEO of Flutterwave, said:

“Africa has one of the highest growth rates for mobile money adoption and e-commerce in the world. It makes sense that we help provide a seamless payment method to support and ensure African businesses reap the full benefits of the e-commerce boom in the region. Our goal has always been to grow a new wave of prosperity in Africa by creating more avenues for businesses in Africa to accept payments. With this partnership, we can achieve this while creating endless possibilities for our customers.”

In agreement, Serigne Dioum, MTN Group Chief Digital and Fintech Officer commented on the new partnership and said:

 “As we progress on our journey to becoming the largest fintech platform in Africa, we will empower millions of businesses to embrace e-commerce in our markets to accept digital payments from MoMo consumers. We believe this is an enabler to accelerating digitized payments in Africa. Building strong ecosystems through partnerships is central to our platform strategy and we will continue to invest in expanding the reach of our platform to consumers and businesses in Africa.” 

Also, the new partnership will further expand on Flutterwave’s previous collaboration with MTN, beyond Uganda and Rwanda – with the potential of deepening the adoption of digital payments and e-commerce in Africa, a sector expected to reach $29 billion by 2022, according to Statista. 

With the MTNite offer, a subscriber is required to load any amount of airtime using the telco’s Mobile Money service. The offer doesn’t attract any initial shortcodes, but once you load airtime, you automatically get 60 minutes of free talk time valid from 12:00 am to 6:00 am daily.

However,  the new voice offer is valid for the period of Ramadhan which making it a muslim-centric offer for customers to talk daily during non-fasting and fast-start hours.

According to the telco’s CEO Mr. Wim Vanhelleputte, Muslims will benefit more from the new overnight offer due to their Ramadan fasting culture as he said.

“During this period, we know that our Muslim brothers and sisters would like to stay in touch as they conduct prayers but cannot congregate. We are therefore launching the MTNite Calls promotional offer that will allow them to share in prayer particularly at night during Ramadhan,” Vanhelleputte said.

Wim Vanhelleputte – CEO, MTN Uganda

Additionally, Mr. Wim and the MTN team have started distribution of food and alms worth UGX 100 million to subscribers affected by the current COVID19 Pandemic lockdown. The offer is an extra spice of the telco’s over UGX 1 Billion contributions to the COVID19 National Taskforce of Uganda.

Now that MTNite is the new free voice minutes offer available for Yello subscribers, this brings MTN’s total bundle offers to 3 with Work from home bundles leading the queue, and the currently paused Kafyu bundles granting unlimited talk time for as low as UGX 100.

The report stated that MTN’s brand value was boosted by a solid overall performance in 2019 despite challenging economic conditions and regulatory challenges in some markets like Uganda where it had to renew its 20-year license.

Brand Finance as well recognised MTN for its continued focus on customers on top of providing high-quality services in countries it exists. In Uganda, MTN received a high-performance score award from Rhode & Schwarz in for its network quality ratings countrywide.

According to the Brand Finance CEO, David Haigh, the telecommunications group not only leveled its performance grounds in its home market, but also carries the same standard to other countries where it operates.

Additionally, Brand Finance acknowledged MTN’s strategy of growing revenue through data and digital while focusing on improving its overall subscriber base satisfaction rate.

In recognition for the year to year bullish positions, Brand Finance upgraded MTN’s brand strength from AAA- to AAA as a signal of continued growth and dominance as the top telecom operator in Africa.

In the light of the current Corona Virus Pandemic shaking the World’s biggest telecom companies to a level of 5G towers being burnt in the UK over conspiracies. The report noted that major telcos will be affected by the situation, thus all should be prepared to serve subscribers in such times.

“We have built a sound, robust and resilient organisation that can and will weather the storm before us. As a Group, we are taking the decisive steps required to persevere in our MTN spirit of togetherness and a positive, can-do attitude,” MTN CEO Rob Shutter Commented

In Uganda, the telco initiated its Lockdown strategy with Work from Home Internet bundles for customers before rolling out unlimited calls for as low as UGX 100 during movement prohibited hours (Curfew).

So, with a new top recognition award, MTN group could be destined to providing more quality services to its customers across Africa.

Excitingly the revamped website once again ships back the brand’s dynamic user interface that has an intuitive design and a catalog of full detailed information about the telco’s products and services.

Among these, the telco’s Tidal service and the resurrected Gaga promotion occupy the homepage slider bits as retailed devices are shortlisted under the Personal tier off the main menu bar.

The revamped Website Main menu houses a total of 6 Main categories summing up the drop-down equation with at least 6 dropdown options for each of the following main menu Items

• Personal _> For Individual subscribers
• Business -> For MTN Business customers/ subscribers
• MTN Momo -> For Mobile Money services and faqs
• Careers -> MTN”s Shortlisted Jobs and call for applicants
• Our Impact -> Story of MTN’s CSR Campaigns and Sponsorships
• About MTN -> Information about the telco’s local and Global Operations

What Changes on the MTN Uganda Website

Unlike the Old Website that had a scent of Microsoft’s server site ASP Net server-side programming language. The new revamped copy is a more dynamic blend of HTML and CSS tweaks crafted to make the Website simpler, fast and well detailed for all user classes

Off the HomePage, the 4 main service buttons (Personal, Business, Momo, Play) together with 2 midsized buttons (Download MYMTN App and MTN Pulse) allow every user to access any service they wish to, without flexing to the Website’s sitemap.

MTN, Airtel, Glo, and Vodafone are the dominant service providers in Ghana and the news making rounds on Social Media, sound with bits of the country’s Communications Minister’s new order to end the data and voice bundles expiry streak.

Hon. URSULA OWUSU-EKUFUL__The Minister of Communications stretched her order as an insight to end the telecoms’-to-subscriber direct tax and not just a reflection of the percentage paid to the tax authority.

Network operators have not been passing on the communication service tax (CST) to subscribers, but instead take advantage of the 3% increase to pass on the entire tax to subscribers. This has effectively increased their profit margins at the expense of subscribers

Part of the official letter to network operators read

As a popular norm in many countries, the tax authorities like URA in Uganda only charge Network operators and not direct subscribers. But according to the letter by Hon Ursula, telcos had resorted to shifting their tax burdens to subscribers, something that has provoked new twists.

To minize the negative impact of the current mode of deduction of the CST, the Ministry of communications hereby directs the immediate implementetation of the follow measures

The letter further read

Though Subscribers across Africa have addressed the new policy by Ghana as a learning point to their service providers like those in Uganda.

The fate of such a policy lies in the hands of tax authorities that have the might to determine subscriber rates and bundle timeframes. Nonetheless, here is a sniff of the full letter issued to telcos in Ghana.

Telcos directed to stop cha… by myjoyonline.com on Scribd

As the Timeframe has it, The end of MTN’s Gaga promotion is an ignition of a much bigger and better promotion that has not been revealed by the Yello camp as yet. However, we suspect this to be a reveal Friday swap reveal that features Airtel’s Freaky lane and Africell as its rival in the yard.

At First, Gaga Wednesday bundles were valid for 24hrs and users had the ability to extend the subscribed offers to any duration by simply keeping up with the expiry times. Though MTN changed this formation earlier this year, you can’t deny the fact that this is the most affordable data craze that has always kept Yello subscribers waiting for when a Wednesday shines again.

So What Next after MTN’s Gaga Wedneday Offer?

The heartbreaking announcement published today morning off the MTN Uganda Twitter page has not only shaked digital Wednesdays but also extended a series of positive spikes to Friday that now becomes the default weekly data marathon day.

MTN Uganda @mtnug tweeted: We are going to miss #GagaWithMTN and we know you will too. But worry not, something bigger is coming. https://twitter.com/mtnug/status/1133642587519299584

So as the MTN Gaga Journey that has spanned for almost 2 years in Uganda comes to a close. Competing telcos of Africell and Airtel now have a head to head battle to prove who houses better offers after the end of their biggest rival.

More so, we are not sure whether Africell will continue with its Wednesday offer that was started in the Gaga flares or induct more power-ups for its 3-day Friday alternative. Nonetheless, Gaga Wednesday has been one of the best data offers yet, and subscribers will surely miss every node of the amazing mid-week offer that relied on the MY MTN App.

The service enables merchants to receive payment for goods and services using MTN Mobile Money. With MoMoPay, merchants can sell airtime and earn commission, pay suppliers, pay salaries as well as transfer money to the bank.

Speaking at the launch at Winner Classic Supermarket in Arua, Mr. James Ndyamuhaki the Senior Regional Business Manager for the Northern region at MTN Uganda said that people are continuously choosing MoMoPay since it is a better way of paying and receiving payment for goods and services.

“More people today are embracing cashless payments. We are committed to simplifying financial transactions by enabling people to transact comfortably and conveniently. And that is what MoMo Pay is all about,” Ssali said.

Ssali further noted that apart from having no service charge, MoMo Pay offers convenience as people can make payments directly from their phones without having to withdraw the money.

Mr. Femarancis Odoi Okoth, the proprietor of Winner Classic Supermarket, welcomed the initiative, noting that it will make financial transactions easier.

“Most of our clients are already using mobile money to pay for goods. MoMoPay is going to make it a lot easier since it is completely free,” He said.

He also noted that the innovation would stamp out the issue of counterfeit currency notes, a challenge that many businesses are grappling with.

In his key note speech at the launch, the Arua Municipality mayor, Mr. Isa Kato Afeku thanked MTN for being a revolutionary telecom company that has not only improved communication but also mobile financial services.

“We are glad that apart from being a reliable telecom company, MTN has gone the extra mile to provide us with reliable financial services. MoMoPay is a revolutionary payment platform that the 21^st century world needs,” he said, “It is going to ease financial transactions and this will in turn ease the cost of doing business. I urge all the people of Arua and beyond to embrace this convenient payment platform.”

Editor’s Note: Press Release

So, sending a call me back message to someone you wish to contact is an essential move you’d always want to pull off. Airtel kickstarted the journey which was later borrowed by MTN to make it easy for customers to receive and make calls.

Among the few reasons why you’d send a call me back could be requesting for airtime to make direct calls. As a matter of fact, once you visit a remote village, your only hopes of getting airtime are through someone in town. So, here is how you can always send a call me back message on either Airtel or MTN in Uganda.

Sending a Call me Back Message on Airtel

In order to send a call me back on Airtel, your SIMcard needs to be fully registered and must have been active for the past 3 months. Once your SIMcard meets these rules, then you can go ahead and send a call me back message to an Airtel number using the following shortcode.

• Dial *100*7*7* PHONE NUMBER #
• Or Dial *100# and Select Option 7 (My Account)
• Select Option 7 (Call me back)
• Then enter an Airtel number to send a call me back message
• DONE: Your Call me back message will be sent

Sending a Call me Back Message on MTN

MTN is the most used telecom in Uganda with over 11 million Ugandans relying on the network for calls and Internet. However, MTN has a cap of up to 6 call me back messages daily, and here is how you can send a call me back message.

• Dial *160*7*5* MTN NUMBER #
• Or Dial *160*7*5#
• Enter an MTN Number to send a call me back message
• DONE: You can send up to 6 call me back messages daily

A tune of 100million shillings was spent on renovating the Kijuura ward and equipping it with 10 hospital beds, 10 mattresses, 10 blankets and 10 mosquito nets. The refurbished facility was handed over by the Kabarole Woman MP, Hon. Sylvia Rwabwogo who was the guest of honor at the event.

During the Kijuura community giveback, Michael Sekadde the Human Resource general manager of MTN inked the telecom’s plans on improving lives of all subscribers. Whether its through rewarding campaigns or discounted bundles like the midweek Gaga offers. The Yello network seems to be dedicated to exciting all customers as the HR further added.

“MTN continues to supplement the efforts of the government in the health sector. The improvement of the health sector is not only for the government that is stretched in terms of resources to ensure all facilities are improved and refurbished. The government efforts can now focus on ensuring the health centre is fully stocked and the workers are well remunerated to maintain their levels of motivation,” Sekadde said.

In 1998, MTN launched its operations in Uganda. In those 20 years, it has paid about Shs 2 trillion in taxes and employs over 500,000 people both directly and indirectly. On top of that, at least 11.2 million customers use the network to connect. As part of the celebrations, MTN is still holding its regional expos as a 20 years appreciation to all subscribers around the country.

Editor’s Note: Part of this story is a press release

The MTN Momo API was unveiled last year at the Ntinda based Innovation village, and a series of pitch sessions have been conducted for the past 3months to find the most efficient and relevant startup ideas to take home an overall cash prize. Today, we got a chance to take the back seat and listen to startup ideas bringing the cashless drive to life.

From Transportation to environment with a dissection of finance ideas, the MTN Open API challenge is one that will have the best startups cruise to the momo talk of fame with funding to bring them to life. Nonetheless, here are some of the startup ideas currently leading the transport wing of the Open Challenge with a successful touch in a real-life notion

Easy Matatu

As the name sounds, Easy Matatu is an idea that encompasses ride sharing to its name. East Matatu is an app that would allow Taxi(Matatu) customers to hook up a ride from a specific pickup point similar to a bus stop. Apparently, the app is already taking trips on Entebbe road and its no way different from Uber or Bolt, but simply bringing he dream of ride sharing with ordinary Taxis to life.

Endobo

In the local Ugandan tone, Endobo means fast. Well, this startup idea was pitched by a group that believes bargaining should come to an end. The same way SafeBoda credit minimizes payment instances between a rider and a driver is the same way Endobo plans to bring electronic cards as a payment solution for ordinary Taxis. For instance, a customer only swaps his/her card with the driver/conductor to pay for the trip cost.

Yo Waste

Urban areas face the problem of poor waste management, and this is where YoWaste comes in with a perfect pitch to solve any garbage related cases in these areas. The app is a concept by Makerere University students led by the UG TECH MAG founder, Martin Tumusiime and his team that seeks to make garbage collectors accessible through a single tap of a button.

If you want your garbage to be collected, simply download the app then request for a garbage collector who responds to the request and picks up the trash. Furthermore, the collector receives a rating from the client about the service delivered and file any complaints. Basically, YoWaste is an environmental idea that could bring an end to pollution with the required funding if procured through MTN’s OPEN API challenge series.

Mobile booking

Booking a bus is always a hard task travelers face when traversing the hard to reach spots of the country. From East to West, buses carry passengers from one place to another, and the mobile booking service idea seeks to make ticket purchases easier than before.

The service uses *166*8# on MTN to make bookings available for users via a simple USSD menu even on a low-grade feature phone like the Kai OS powered MTN Smart. As a matter of fact, this is not a mobile app but its a USSD based system that could save many from falling victim of fraud tickets in the ordinary purchase zones.

Before Judges conclude the MTN Open API Challenge, we hope to see a startup idea come to life with funding secured from the giant telco. More so, all pitched ideas are great but we think our selection features some of those we would be glad to see become real-world problem solving services in Uganda.