“txtNpay” targets tertiary students

Tertiary students in the country can now benefit from a new mobile-commerce technology that enables access to financial services by using a mobile phone.

The innovative technology called “txtNpay” was introduced by Afric Xpress Ghana Limited, a mobile payment company.

Marie-Dominique Aboukan, Director, Sales and Marketing of Afric Xpress, at a presentation to the students of the University of Ghana, Legon, in Accra, explained that “txtNpay” will provide a convenient and fast means of transacting business with the convenience of their mobile phone.

“The “txtNpay” technology offers a mobile phone-based money transfer and payment system that gives students, individuals, merchants and businesses the ability to shop, top-up phone accounts, transfer funds, pay bills and transacts other commercial activities using their mobile phones.

The introduction of the system into the Ghanaian market by Afric Xpress was prompted by noting the wide use of mobile phones in the country - and that there was need to create a convenient means of transacting financial businesses to student and the general public,” she said.

“Consumers can configure their preferred services to interact with on their mobile phone device,” she said, emphasising that students can now use their phone to simplify their campus life, use it to send money, pay bills, top-up credit and check bank balances with a single click.

“The facility is designed to make it easier for mobile-phone users, financial service providers and merchants to interact through a personalised and integrated platform accessible across a range of mobile devices, while protecting the consumers’ confidential data.

“Its wallet is an electronic stored valued account which customers charge by buying txtNpay electronic cash at an approved partner outlet or making a transfer from their bank account. txtNpay works with any mobile phone and mobile network,” Aboukan indicated.

It is estimated that about 67 percent of the country's population use mobile-phones and the number is expected to rise due to the influx of more sophisticated mobile devices into the country and the keen competition among telecommunication network companies to offer quality services to mobile-phone users.

However, research has shown that less than 10 percent of this population has bank accounts and far less have access to any kind of payment cards.