VTNetwork Ltd., a mobile money service provider, has indicated its readiness to roll out its mobile payment services, VCash, for telephone users across the country. VTNetwork’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Peter Ojo, who spoke at the Ibadan office of the company, said the plan to roll out the mobile payment services became a reality following the final regulatory approval given to it by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
“The Central Bank of Nigeria has granted its final regulatory approval to the Vtnetwork Limited to roll out its mobile payment services across Nigeria. It has been a long journey, not just for us but for our agents, super agents and subscribers”, Ojo said.
According to Mr. Peter Ojo, Vtnetwork had in 2007 offered an e-commerce payment platform to understand the Nigerian payment market landscape. This, he said, was aimed at experimenting how to tackle the payment needs of the citizens.
Ojo further explained that the Virtual Terminal Network is a payment platform with hundreds of thousands of users, who make at least one or more transactions monthly. He said, “We feel we understand the Nigerian customers and their immediate needs. Today, we have a very solid team and services that people want.
“The VTN platform will vastly expand the number of Nigerians who can benefit as only a minority have bank accounts and constant internet access.”Ojo explained that the new platform was designed to serve the unbanked population who are in the majority, stressing that the prepaid nature of transactions made the model more secure because there was no credit exposure. Considering the large percentage of the unbanked people in the country, he described the VTN platform as the technology that fits the Nigerian environment.
Ojo also said that, “In order for phone to replace wallets in Nigeria, technology and creative marketing must be an integral part of the winning strategy; with Vcash, there is a solution for every sector of the economy – from basic person-to-person transfers to more sophisticated financial services.”
VTNetwork is presently training agents who will serve its subscribers across the nation.
