SA's Vodacom offers m-pesa card
23 January 2015
Vodacom is rolling out prepaid EMV cards to complement its m-pesa mobile wallet
service in South Africa.
The card is certified by the major international payment schemes and is accepted at
any of the 240 000 EMV-compliant payment terminals and over 27 000 ATMs
throughout the country. This is expected to extend the reach of Vodacom's services
significantly.
EMV stands for Europay, MasterCard and Visa and it is a global standard for inter-
operation of integrated circuit cards – IC cards or "chip cards" – and IC-card capable
point-of-sale terminals and ATMs, for authenticating credit and debit card
transactions.
The Vodacom m-pesa card is secured by Gemalto, the international digital security
company. Its off-the-shelf solution for Vodacom encompasses design and production
of the card, as well as automatic packaging and point-of-sales delivery. The card
links to m-pesa accounts, and allows users to make payments
for goods and services
without the need to carry cash.
The m-pesa card is available directly from 8 000 Vodacom agents and enrolment with
the company's secure system is quick and easy. Users can check current balances
via the mobile wallet app and receive SMS alerts when funds are running low.
Because it is a PIN-protected virtual account, the user's credit remains safe even if
the card is lost or stolen.
"Gemalto offered us the convenience of a fully packaged solution," said Herman
Singh, the managing executive of m-commerce at Vodacom. "By expanding our m-
pesa mobile wallet offering with the banking card, we've been able to add an entirely
new level of functionality which we think is critical to the success of m-pesa in South
Africa."
With this new project, Vodacom became the first mobile operator to initiate the
large-scale rollout of an EMV banking card that was accepted anywhere said Thierry
Mesnard, the senior vice-president for Africa
at Gemalto. "This innovative deployment
highlights just how quickly the worlds of banking, retail and mobile communications
are changing."
It was aimed at offering greater convenience, security and social inclusion.
Source: APO
A Vodacom m-pesa EMV card. (Image: APO)
