Mobile financial services company Obopay announced it will be working with Warid Telecom, an Abu Dhabi Group company, to launch a mobile banking and payment service in Uganda. The new service, called Warid Pesa, will provide Ugandans a prepaid account for e-money transactions, account settlement and a way to pay for goods and services, the company said.

According to Obopay's announcement, Warid Pesa is based on the company's open and interoperable mobile money solutions currently deployed around the world. The service is aimed at bridging new and existing payment technologies to address a number of use cases for the unbanked and can be used on any type of mobile device including inexpensive, pre-paid feature phones.

"We understand that financial inclusion is the most important aspect in alleviating poverty in Uganda," said Shailenrda Naidu, chief commercial officer for Warid Telecom, Uganda, in the announcement. “Warid Pesa is an attempt to establish innovative and convenient mobile money transfer and payments for those who don’t have access to banking service."

Mobile financial services available to Ugandans through Warid Pesa will include person-to-person mobile money transfers, person-to-merchant mobile money transfers and prepaid cell phone top-up.

"Warid Telecom is an important strategic partner for us and comes at the right time as we have been interested in venturing into the Ugandan market for some time," said Obopay CEO Deepak Chandnani in a press release. "Our platform is ideally suited for the Uganda market. The service encompasses not only the needs of the consumer, but also is beneficial for retailers, agents and merchants."

Chandani said the service is intended for access by all Ugandans and is accessible by all types of cellphones and technologies including SMS, IVR and WAP. Chandani also said the solution was designed with the utmost security.

"Security is also always a primary concern when people undertake mobile payments," Chandani said. "Keeping this in mind, optimum security has been provided for payment transactions to ensure that there is no money laundering and the users’ hard earned money is safe."

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