My Mobile payments ltd (MMPL), has launched a new mobile wallet service in India that can be used by customer of any mobile operator or bank (you don’t need be with any bank at all), the service called ‘Money on Mobile’ or MoM, can be used by mobile subscribers to make bill payments, purchase goods and services without the need of cash, cheque or credit/debit card.
The service allows users to load their mobile phones with cash of various denominations starting from Rs 20, at retail touch point of MoM, and then use this virtual money to top up any prepaid mobile or DTH, or pay postpaid bills, utility bills such as electricity, gas, buy airline, bus, and movie tickets etc.
The service has been available to business users since 2010 and it is only now that the consumer version is being launched, the MMPL claims to have a network of 82,000 retailer (touch point) across 300 cities in India. Money on Mobile already has 5 lakh customers doing transactions worth Rs 2 crore every day.
Customers don’t need high end device to use this service, as it can be used through SMS based platform (you can send SMS to make a payment and receive confirmation through SMS), however there is also a mobile application for those who have mobiles that support installing application.
Many banks like SBI, ICICI and mobile operators like Airtel have already launched mobile wallet services in the country and it will be interesting to see how MoM can take on the might of these biggies. Company has not announced any additional benefits apart from the convenience from using this service. Whereas Airtel has tied up with many merchants to offer discounts to Airtel money users.