In September, we alerted you that MTN Rwanda customers were able to send money to M-Pesa users directly. This was following collaborations agreement signed by MTN Group aimed at allowing MTN Money users in Uganda, Rwanda and Zambia to make cross border remittances with M-pesa customers in Kenya, Tanzania and a host of other nations. Users in these nations would be able to send money to MTN users. In addition to boosting trade, the service allowed users to send money without exactly changing currencies. Early in September, MTN Rwanda users were able to send money to MTN Uganda using this service.
Safaricom has now confirmed that its users can now send money money to MTN money users making it the second partnership of this nature after Safaricom partnered with Vodacom Tanzania to introduce cross-border transaction between customers on the respective networks. To access the service, Safaricom and MTN customers will be required to dial *840# from their handsets and follow prompts and access a Cost Calculator that will show them the equivalent amount to send based on prevailing foreign exchange rates. Upon sending they will receive two messages to confirm that the transaction has gone through.
You can read on the steps involved in sending money by an MTN Rwanda customers to M-Pesa without converting currencies here.
