IDT Seeks Share of Growing African Mobile Remittance Market

American telco company IDT Corporation has launched a direct-to-mobile-wallet service to Kenya and Niger through its international money transfer service, Boss Revolution, entering markets where mobile payments have been successful in the past.

Customers can now send money from any U.S. Boss Revolution agent to be received in Kenya or Niger by anyone with an Airtel Money account, a mobile commerce offering by telecoms company Bharti Airtel, which operates across Africa and Asia. ImpalaPay, a cross-border multi- currency payment platform based in Kenya, is also part of the collaboration.

Kenya is a pioneer in African mobile payments. It was an early market for the MPesa mobile money service, and is also a growing remittance market with companies such as Transfast and Safaricom—one of the companies behind MPesa—building remittance businesses in the country.

IDT, which is expanding Boss Revolution to new countries, framed the service as one that would make remittances less expensive and more convenient.

"We are proud to collaborate with Bharti Airtel Limited and ImpalaPay to break down the barriers to money transfer to Kenya and Niger, and look forward to expanding our direct-to-mobile-wallet service to additional countries in Africa," said Alfredo O'Hagan, IDT senior vice president for consumer payments, in a July 13 press release.

Recipients can use their transferred funds to pay utility bills, make transfers to other Airtel Money accounts or to pick up cash payouts at thousands of locations including banks and supermarkets countrywide in Kenya and Niger.