Kenyan operator Airtel Africa, Standard Chartered Bank and MasterCard have developed a solution that will allow people in the East African nation to make online purchases with their cellphones, obviating the need for a credit or debit card.

The service, called PayOnline, will soon be expanded to other African markets. It allows Airtel Money customers to make online purchases via a 16-digit code, much like using a credit card. Merchants have to accept MasterCard as a payment mechanism.

The service allows customers to make online purchases by requesting a single-use card number from a menu of options on their phones. Airtel Money then generates a 16-digit number that is valid for 24 hours and a single purchase.

At launch, transactions are limited to 35 000 Kenyan shillings (about R2 700) per transaction and 70 000 shillings (about R5 400) per day, but the limits are subject to revision depending on the demand the service experiences.

Users will be charged a fixed fee of 50 shillings (about R3,80) per transaction and the fee will be deducted from the customer’s Airtel Money account.

There is no word on whether the service will be come to SA, but MasterCard says it “will be rolled out across Africa in due course”. – Staff reporter, TechCentral