(Ecofin Agency) - In the next few days, mobile telephone operators Tigo and Airtel will launch the linking of their mobile payment services. The project which will be in a pilot phase will last six months. It should allow users of Tigo Cash and Airtel Money to send money, regardless of the operator they use, from either telecom store. The objective of this collaboration is to enhance financial inclusion of small budgets across the country.

The mobile operator leader in the Rwandan market MTN, is not participating in this project. It is actually engaged in an operation updating its Mobile Money platform, explained Arthur Rutagenwa, director of Mobile Money at MTN Rwanda. For the moment, the company explains that it does not know when this update will be completed. As a result, it can not definitively give an opinion on an entry into the transfer of money interconnection project initiated by its competitors.

One must also say that MTN has everything to gain from continuing to operate its own. In effect, according to statistics from the Regulatory Authority of Services in Rwanda (RURA) for the first quarter of 2015, MTN dominates the mobile money transfer market with 49% market share. Tigo Rwanda has 35% share while Airtel has 16%.