On the sidelines of the World Economy Forum on Africa held in Kigali, Rwanda, from May 11 to May 13, Rwanda has signed with Ericsson an agreement to boost m-commerce and expand Mobile Money service. The country with the help of the Sweden Company will develop a national interoperability switch which is based on Ericsson’s M-commerce Interconnect solution.

The platform developed will connect financial and payment services providers within the country. It should be operational by 2017. It will enable Rwanda’s population to enjoy, in real time, a wide range of digital payment options. With the interoperability solution, an end-user will for example be able to make an online payment from his mobile phone, directly from a bank account, regardless of the bank.

Rwanda is aware of the impact that facilitating mobile and banking payment can have on the development of its economy. Digital payment would accelerate the development of e-commerce.

In Kenya, Mobile Money is used to pay all sorts of bills (school, food, power, fuel station, rent, taxes, etc.). As a result, the country now records billions of financial transactions each year, with millions of dollars paid to the public treasury by operators.

Kigali aims to beat Nairobi by introducing the interoperability solution. Rwanda hopes to change its population’s purchase habits and boost transactions via mobile and card payment. This will in turn facilitate consumption and stimulate the growth of local goods and services companies which will boost the state’s revenues.

During the signing of the agreement with Ericsson, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Amb Claver Gatete, said: “Mobile payment technology has the potential to advance financial inclusion and help people build savings while giving government, as well as the private sector a more cost-effective, efficient, transparent, and safer means of disbursing and collecting payments”.