Mi-Pay to provide Zain with International Airtime

Date: 24/2/2010

• Enabling people overseas to buy and send Zain customers airtime
• Launched in Kenya, other Zain operations to follow soon

Mi-Pay is to provide Zain, the leading Middle East and African mobile operator, with an International Airtime top-up service that enables people in the UK, Europe, USA, and Canada to purchase Zain airtime for friends and family living in countries where Zain operates.

The new service is now live ‘to Kenya' with further roll-outs to Uganda and Tanzania, and other countries planned over the coming months. Those using the service will be able to top-up each specified mobile phone, a set number of times a month, with defined airtime values ranging from 1500 to 3500 KES (approximately $20 USD to $50 USD / equivalent value for £12 GBP to £30 GBP).

With 30 million members of the African diaspora abroad currently contributing approx $40 billion annually in remittances to Africa*, Zain and Mi-Pay anticipate high demand for the service.

Under the contract, Mi-Pay is providing Zain, which now operates in 23 countries including 15 sub-Saharan African countries, with full-service delivery which includes Zain branded front-end web designs; settlement and reconciliation; merchant acquisition; and system monitoring and reporting.

"We operate in many prime remittance corridors where people living in rural and remote regions rely on family and friends abroad for additional financial support," says Chris Gabriel, CEO, Zain Africa. "We believe this international top-up service will provide a new way to channel this support through the provision of airtime. We chose Mi-Pay, because of its proven expertise and capability."

The scalable and flexible solution will allow Zain to quickly create, implement and roll-out the international top-up facility; creating valuable new revenue streams and vital new services for its customers.

Norman Frankel, CEO of Mi-Pay states, "We are delighted that Zain has agreed to work with Mi-Pay on an exclusive basis, using our International Airtime platform to deliver remote airtime top-up. Given the high numbers of Africans now living abroad and their desire to ensure contacts at home have access to crucial mobile communications, we believe this will prove a popular service. Our world class platform is designed to accommodate rapid growth allowing us to ‘go-live' in both recipient and sending countries in quick succession - with minimal cost and risk to Zain."

The service is now live and available at www.globaltopup.zain.com from the following 16 key sending countries: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States of America.

* United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) report on remittances to Africa, October 2009