Halotel, Visa in mobile payment partnership deal

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The company closed the year 2017 with 780,000 subscribers, but rose to 1.3 million at the end of 2018

Dar es Salaam. Halotel Tanzania and Visa International have signed a partnership that will enable visa payments via HaloPesa wallet in Tanzania.

The partnership enables telecom subscribers to use Visa on mobile to securely make merchant payments and conduct cash deposits and withdrawals at visa agents.

Reports by the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) show that HaloPesa was among the fastest growing mobile money platform in Tanzania last year.

The number of registered HaloPesa subscribers rose by a cool 71.76 per cent in the year 2018.

The company closed the year 2017 with 780,000 subscribers, but rose to 1.3 million at the end of 2018.

“With the number of Halotel’s voice subscribers growing steadily in double digits, we remain the fastest growing mobile network operator in Tanzania since we started operations in 2015,” said Halotel’s Managing Director Nguyen Van Son.

He said HaloPesa now has over 40,000 mobile money agents and that the power of the Visa network gives it the capability to deliver interoperable standards and enable its customers to pay and get paid seamlessly. Through the partnership, HaloPesa will offer consumers the option to pay a merchant with interoperable Visa QR Codes that are being rolled out as part of Visa on mobile expansion in the market.

Visa on mobile enables consumers to access their funds directly from their bank accounts via their mobile banking app to pay merchants, send money to individuals at no transaction fee.

Visa general manager for East Africa, Kevin Langley said that the partnership seeks to connect more Tanzanians to Visa’s global payment system, bringing secure and convenient mobile commerce for consumers and merchants in Tanzania.