Awarded in the ‘best mobile payment solution’ category, the service is powered by AFB and Mahindra Comviva’s mobiquity® Money
Mahindra Comviva, the global leader in providing mobility and financial solutions, announced that it has 
received top honors at the prestigious Telecoms.com Awards 2015 held recently in London. Airtel Timiza, an innovative short-term micro-loan service launched by Airtel Tanzania, in partnership with consumer finance firm AFB and powered by Mahindra Comviva’s mobiquity® Money was awarded in the “best mobile payment solution’ category.
The service leverages mobile phones to enable Airtel Money customers to get short-term loans faster at low interest rates from the convenience of their phones. The loan is instantly credited into customers Airtel Money account and can be repaid via the same account. No documents are required for getting loans. The uniqueness of this service lies in the fact that the loan amount depends on customer’s usage of Airtel line and Airtel Money and previous loan repayment behavior, rather than stringent banking criterias, like income levels, or property. Airtel Timiza micro-loans are available right now to more than 4 million Airtel Money customers in Tanzania, which is about 14% of Tanzania’s adult population.
55.6% of Tanzanians borrow money every year. 49.1% out of the 55.6% of Tanzanian adults, who take loans, borrow from informal sources, such as private money lenders, friends, or family. Airtel Timiza targets these 49.1% of the borrowers using informal channels. Airtel Timiza formalizes and digitizes the loan transactions by extending micro-loans to financially unbanked and under-banked adults in Tanzania.
Commenting on the achievement, Srinivas Nidugondi, Senior VP and Head of Mobile Financial Solutions at Mahindra Comviva said, “We are delighted to receive this award as it is a testimony of our expertise in the mobile payment space. Our mobiquity® suite of products are designed to build a vibrant and a sustainable payments ecosystem for businesses and consumers”.
“This award demonstrates our market leadership in innovative digital payment solutions and exemplifies our endeavor to support operators in generating greater value for their businesses,” further added Srinivas.
The Telecoms.com Awards honour industry excellence in everything from the most ground-breaking advances in network technology and services delivered over those networks, front line innovations in customer service, enterprise cloud offerings and the use of green technology.
