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mHITs (pronounced Em-HITS) in conjunction with DataNets Limited, has deployed a mobile phone payment service in Papua New Guinea specifically aimed at providing a total payment solution for the unbanked. The service known as mPowa (pronounced Em-Power) is a believed to possibly be the first model of it’s type as it not only incorporates person-to-person payments (p2p) but also the ability to perform retail Point Of Sale transactions with any mobile phone.

mPowa works by linking a mobile wallet account to the users mobile phone number. The funds within the wallet account are completely separate from the airtime balance. Users can send and receive payments from the wallet to other users, purchase pre-paid airtime and check their mPowa account balance using only their mobile phone.

The mPowa service also supports cash-loading and cash-out transactions as well as Domestic Cash Transfer or DCT. DCT allows funds to be sent electronically to non mPowa users and allows them to withdraw cash at mPowa agents.

For more info visit:

http://www.mhits.com.au/news.html

For the full media release visit:

http://www.mhits.com.au/releases/MEDIA%20RELEASE%20-%20mHITs%20powers%20payments%20for%20the%20unbanked.pdf