What does Mobile Money mean in Congo? First, you are getting paid. And second, you are getting your full pay. Finally third, you have to stand up for hours at the Mobile Carrier's office to get money.
To date, Congo remains a cash society.
‘Airtel Money’, the company’s mobile money platform, is already making a revolutionary mark in the country with the government embracing it to make seamless large-scale salary payments from December last year. Now, civil servants including the military, the police force, pensioners and other civil servants can receive payments on their mobile phones.
Louis Luballa, the Managing Director of Airtel DRC said: “In May 2013, about 66,000 civil servants in DRC received their salaries via Airtel Money, a demonstration of how technology can make things easy. With Airtel Money, Airtel DRC is paving the way to a new era of financial transactions at the tap of a mobile phone, helping to save time going to the banking halls. The introduction of this revolutionary service in the DRC market clearly demonstrates the key role Airtel is playing in empowering local communities in DRC and across Sub-Saharan Africa.”
DRC remains one of the countries with the limited banking facilities in Africa but rapid development in ICT sector, particularly mobile telephony is sending a strong message about the continent’s potential to innovate. Africa is now considered as the fastest emergent continent in the ICT sector growth after Asia.