Indian telecom service provider Tata Docomo is set to expand its mobile money and payment services called mRupee to 26 cities by the end of this fiscal from 11 cities at present. It will take on Vodafone.
Tata Docomo competes with Vodafone India in the mobile money space. ( Vodafone India Capex up 12% to Rs 1908 crore, Airtel H1 Capex dip 54% )
Vodafone M-Pesa has 30,000 agents and 300,000 registered customers from 10 circles such as West Bengal, Kolkata, Bihar- Jharkhand, Rajasthan, UPE, Delhi, Mumbai, UPW, Maharashtra and Goa and Assam & North East. The mobile money service is offered initially through more than 8,300 trained and authorized M-Pesa agents.
The expansion of mRupee will be through MMP Mobi Wallet Payment Systems, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Docomo.
Tata Docomo, according to its long term strategies to utilize mobile money services as a revenue stream, will launch bouquet of services around the mobile wallet. Besides B2C services, the company will tap the B2B segment by working with Indian businesses, traders, shop owners and enterprises by providing efficient payment/ cash management services.
At present, Tata Docomo’s mRupee is available in 1700 retail outlets through its tie-up with ICICI Bank.
mRupee will be available on Web, WAP, as a mobile application, USSD and via IVR as an operator agnostic service. mRupee currently has over 1,30,000 customers and is expanding rapidly growing at nearly 25-30 percent every month.
“mRupee is aiding in creation of a mobile-based digital cash economy that is more efficient, transparent and inclusive. Mobile based digital cash economy is a solution that can lead to economic growth and also boost financial inclusion and accessibility especially in terms of remittances or payment services,” said Pradeep Kumar Sampath, COO of MMPL.
Vodafone is yet to find success in the Indian mobile money market. Till Agusut, around Rs 6,000 crore has been transmitted through Vodafone M-Pesa network globally. It has around 96,000 agents globally. But success in India is too far.
Launched by Vodafone in 2007, M-Pesa is now available in eight countries — Kenya, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo – allowing users to send and receive small amounts of money via their mobile phones.
Baburajan K
editor@telecomlead.com
