TARGETING the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) market, leading wireless communications provider Smart Communications Inc. has forged a partnership with Etisalat of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to jointly develop and launch an international money transfer service using mobile phones.
Essa Al Haddad, chief marketing officer of Etisalat, and Jojo Malolos, Smart head of international business, sealed a memorandum of understanding at the Gitex Technology Week, an international technology trade exhibition held in Dubai.
Under the agreement, Smart will be the technology enabler of Etisalat service, while Etisalat will utilize Smart's mobile commerce platform, the Smart Services Hub, a global financial and telecommunications services model-based Smart Money electronic financial services platform. Smart Money is an electronic wallet card linked to a mobile phone.
Using this platform, telecommunications and banks can offer mobile phone-based remittances that enable beneficiaries to send funds back home anytime and anywhere. As an additional security feature, senders will be able to track transactions until the funds reach the designated recipients.
Initially, the remittance service will be offered in the UAE and will later be rolled out to other Etisalat service areas such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Etisalat's West African subsidiaries under the Atlantique Group.
"Migrant remittance is an important source of income for many countries around the world. As the leading operator of the UAE, a nation that plays host to nearly 200 different nationalities, we are confident the service will revolutionize the entire remittance process for expatriates, as they send money to their home countries. Our partnership with Smart will enable us to bank on the wealth of experience they bring, and will once again make UAE the first nation in the region to launch this service," Al Haddad said.
At present, there are more than one million OFWs in the Middle East and about 60,000 to 70,000 of them are employed in Dubai in various companies.
For his part, Malolos said "we value this opportunity to work with Etisalat. This partnership marks yet another milestone for the Smart vision of providing remittance and other relevant financial services for people around the world."
Etisalat is the leading telecommunications service provider in the UAE and offers both fixed and mobile phone services. Its mobile subscribers exceeded 4.5 million by the end of 2005. It represents a penetration rate of nearly 100 percent.
It likewise offers advanced mobile services including 3G, MMS, Push To Talk, BlackBerry services and others. It has also been deploying Next Generation Network facilities to offer its fixed line services.
Internet and broadband penetration has grown rapidly, with penetration at almost 51 percent as of December 2005.
The partnership is in line with Smart's efforts to promote m-commerce services and mobile phone-based remittances. Smart's m-commerce systems are available to international mobile operators, and international and domestic banks, enabling them to provide a broader range of secure data and transactional services.
The phone firm has more than 27 million subscribers and projected to hit nearly 30 million in the next few years. (MSN/Sunnex)
