Myanmar Networks Launch Mobile Money Service:

Myanmar's two state owned mobile networks have launched a mobile money service, based on a platform supplied by Oberthur Technologies.

This first national mobile money service, offered in both English and Myanmar, is based on OT's MoreMagic m:Wallet. It includes person-to-person transfer, agent-assisted cash-in/-out, air time top-up, salary disbursements, and merchant payments.

Started in major cities at the end of 2013, the service will progressively extend to all localities in Myanmar. By end of 2014, there are expected to be over 6,000 agents, with expected double-digit growth over the next 5 years. The services will eventually serve more than 80% of the population, giving them access to basic financial services.

The Myanmar economy has experienced strong 6% or higher annual growth over the last few years, but less than 20% of the population is able to access banking services in an economy that is largely cash-based.

Zimbabwe's telecoms regulator has said that it will carry out an investigation into Econet Wireless' attempts to cut its voice tariffs by 60 percent, even though the mobile network has reversed the cuts.

The regulator ordered the mobile network to reverse the price cuts, which saw a voice call cut from 25 cents per minute to just 10 cents per minute, saying that the reductions had not been approved.

Econet expressed some surprise at the decision saying that the regulator shouldn't be trying to control prices, but has since complied with the order. Econet is the largest mobile network in the country, and concerns had been expressed that it was seeking to become a monopoly operator by pricing its rivals out of business.

"They have (complied with the directive), but we are still looking into the period they advertised outside what we had approved," Potraz acting director-general Alfred Marisa told The Herald newspaper. "What they were advertising outside our approvals is what we rejected."

In related news, the mobile network said that it was near to launching a service allowing overseas remittances to be paid into its mobile money service, and withdrawn from its nearly 7,000 EcoCash agents countrywide.