Mobile billing rings in with M-Iflọ in Africa

LAGOS, NIGERIA: Bango and MMIT have released M-Iflọ, claimed as a safe payment solution that enables online transactions for digital content.

M-Iflọ is said to navigate the complex mobile payment environment in Sub-Saharan Africa and is tailored to the needs of the industry leaders in mobile content. Africa's growing population of smartphone users are young, tech savvy and early adopters by instinct. But when it comes to payment for mobile apps and content, African consumers are shut out, excluded from mobile commerce because merchants are fearful of the risks of doing business in Africa. M-Iflọ says it addresses those concerns and will unlock a world of mobile payments in Africa.

Mobile billing has been held back across much of Africa, limited by a range of technological and political risk factors. Political instability in a number of Sub-Saharan countries has resulted in unclear regulatory environments and a lack of proper infrastructure to support stable carrier-grade billing systems.

Settlement and collection of funds is complex, with rapidly fluctuating exchange rates, varying taxes, and transfer fees. Further, As Jide Akindele, CEO of MMIT commented "unfortunately corruption remains a substantial risk within the mobile money industry in Sub-Saharan Africa. This has resulted in a reluctance from the world's app stores and mobile brands to engage the African market."

"M-Iflọ is a payment verification portal that acts as a safe entry point for mobile content providers to reach the African market. M-Iflọ allows consumers with a mobile wallet account in Africa to pick their wallet provider as a payment option at the checkout page of a content site. The wallet holder enters their mobile wallet number for account verification and obtains the content. M-Iflọ acts as an intermediary between mobile merchants and mobile wallet providers. In near real-time, the tool queries the accounts of mobile wallet subscribers to determine if the subscriber has enough value in their wallet account to facilitate a purchase." 

M-Iflọ is already integrated with some of the major mobile wallet providers in Africa, including Mobipay in Kenya, Stanbic IBTC Mobile Money in Nigeria and further announcements are imminent.