MTN has introduced new software for Nigeria’s up-and-coming banks, hoping it could save the micro-finance institutions up to 70 percent of operational costs.
Dubbed MTN XaaS, the software platform is part of MTN’s efforts to improve microbanking operations in the West African nation expected to enable the banks cut down on the traditional costs involved in procuring, hosting and implementing typical banking software.
“Technology trends have made it possible for us to deliver robust cloud services direct to our customers via public or private connections without their need for storage, licensing and infrastructural concerns,”said Babatunde Osho, chief enterprise solutions officer, MTN Nigeria.
MTN says that the software has been created in such a way that will enable micro-finance banks (MFBs) to carry out banking operations without having to pay much in licensing, storage and implementation costs that are associated with typical banking applications in the current market.
He also said that the software is just one of the many cloud services that MTN Business will be launching in Nigeria.
The software was developed in partnership with Computer Warehouse Group (CWG), while MTN Business, the the business-to-business division of MTN Nigeria, will be in charge of the management of the same. CWG is an IT Utility solutions provider including Routing and Switching and advanced unified communication services.
MTN XaaS’s launch comes few days after MTN introduced an application dubbed MTN Mobile Newspaper that allows subscribers to get prompt news alerts through their handsets.
Nigeria overtook South Africa to become the continent’s largest mobile market with now close to 100 million subscribers, and yet market penetration stands at only around 60 percent in early 2012.
Mobile phone service providers have been jostling to increase their market share through new innovative products and services. The mobile market is set to hit 120 million subscribers by 2013 according to The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
