South Africa-based multinational operator MTN Group has announced the launch of its a remittances app. Called MTN Homeland, the mobile app aims to facilitate transfers of both money and airtime from Europe to Africa and parts of the Middle East served by MTN.

MTN Homeland allows remittances from Europe to the following countries: Cameroon, Congo Brazzaville, Ghana, Guinea Conakry, Rwanda and Uganda, while airtime can be sent to Afghanistan, Benin, Botswana, Cameroon, Congo Brazzaville, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Conakry, Liberia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Swaziland, Uganda, Yemen and Zambia. 

According to MTN, this app is an example of how the operator uses fintech to expand its reach beyond its existing footprint and core business, while driving meaningful impact to millions.

Tarifica’s Take

MTN has taken advantage of its presence across several continents to become a major player in international remittances. Many of its subscribers who live and work abroad (particularly in Europe) need to send funds home to family or friends. The operator currently has around 32 million active mobile money customers, so the new app, rather than creating something entirely new, functions as a way of streamlining and facilitating an existing service.

MTN Homeland unifies all the operator’s mobile money arrangements under one interface, which enhances MTN’s brand. It also effectively advertises the existence of this functionality to users who may not have been aware of it or were not aware of its full scope. In addition, the ease of use of the app will likely stimulate an increase in the overall number of transactions, particularly among those who have the need to make transfers to more than one participating country. And finally, the fact that the app can be used with equal ease to send money or airtime will help bring about greater use of MTN’s networks among subscribers in many countries and thereby promote a stronger global MTN community.