Mobile money has transformed financial access across many African markets, but merchant acceptance has often lagged behind consumer adoption. Expanding contactless payment infrastructure is a critical next step in creating a truly cashless ecosystem that benefits consumers, merchants, and financial service providers alike.
The partnership between Airtel and Verifone aims to address this challenge by deploying NFC-enabled point-of-sale terminals across Ghana. By combining widespread mobile money adoption with modern contactless payment technology, the initiative has the potential to accelerate digital payments throughout the region.
Mobile network operator Airtel and payment services providerVerifone have announced a new partnership that will see the two companies worktogether to contactless m-payments to Ghana. According to the partnership,Verifone will provide NFC-enabled POS terminals to merchants across the WestAfrican country that will in turn allow Airtel’s 1.5 million customers to makemobile based contactless payments.
Commenting on the deal, Chris Jones, chief executive,Verifone Mobile Money said,
“We believe that NFC technology and the roll out ofcontactless ‘tap and pay’ across the African continent will help to realize thetrue economic benefits of cashless economies while driving mobile money adoptionthrough an improved merchant payments experience.”
While mobile money is widely popular theinfrastructure to enable contactless POS payments has been lacking as it is inmany countries around the world including the United States. But with this latestpartnership between Airtel and Verifone the infrastructure should improvesignificantly. As a result, it would not be surprising to see African consumersbecome the leading mobile money and payment users globally in the very nearfuture, well before consumers in Europe and the United States
As contactless acceptance expands, mobile money can move beyond person-to-person transfers and become a practical everyday payment method for retail purchases. Investments in merchant infrastructure will be essential to unlocking the full potential of digital payments in emerging markets.
Ghana’s rollout reflects a broader trend across Africa, where mobile-first financial services continue to outpace many developed markets. As NFC technology becomes more widely available, African markets are well positioned to remain leaders in mobile payments innovation.
Overview by Tristan Hugo-Webb, Associate Director, Global Payments Advisory Service
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