This latest date comes after missing about three initial timelines for the implementation of the policy.

The mobile money interoperability is to allow consumers transfer money across all mobile networks without any restrictions.

This is also in fulfillment of driving a cash lite economy in Ghana.

The Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia is confident the policy will help attract more investments and enhance financial inclusion in the country.

“There is a lot of work that has been done and I am happy to say that all things being equal, in May which is in a couple of months’ time, we expect to launch Ghana’s interoperable system. It is really going to be the vehicle for true interoperability as well as financial inclusion.”

“This means that all the mobile companies and all the bank accounts will be interoperable and so we are providing this vehicle for financial inclusion and it will help us also move towards a cashless society,” the Vice President added.

The Ghana Interbank and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS) has since been mandated to provide the interoperability platform for the players in the ecosystem.

The contract to GhIPSS came after a botched agreement with Sibton Switch which had earlier agreed to offer the service for some 4.6 billion cedis.

The Vice President for the first time gave the GhIPSS a November 2017 deadline.

This was extended to January 2018.

Subsequently, the CEO of GhIPSS, Archie Hesse admitted to completing all the necessary processes to allow for a takeoff by February 2018.

Dr. Bawumia was speaking at the opening ceremony for the Norway-Ghana Business Forum.

The meeting with some potential investors from Norway, also outlined additional plans to attract investors into the country into critical sectors like the oil and gas, agriculture as well as mining industry.

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By: Pius Amihere Eduku/citibsuinessnews.com/Ghana

The post Govt reschedules mobile money interoperability to May appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

A telecommunications company, Sibton Switch Systems, won a controversial bid to oversee this interoperability at a cost of GHc 4.6 billion from the Bank of Ghana, the most expensive tender among the companies that bid for the project.

[contextly_sidebar id=”KGJj2BoEBJsYgscvRGghTO5f6tq3UxT1″]Initial reports about the deal indicated that the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS), was well placed to handle an intermediary role in across-network mobile money transactions.

Before telcos could fully roll-out a form of interoperability, the BoG announced that it had secured the services of the private firm that would handle the interoperability.

The telecom operators in the country subsequently expressed their displeasure wth moves by the central bank to impose a third-party company on them to act as the intermediary in mobile money transactions across different networks.

Veep charges GhIPSS

The Vice President, however, appears to be on the side of the GhIPSS as he has challenged it to take a leading role in driving discussions towards making the platforms of telcos and banks interoperable.

Speaking at the Ghana Economic Outlook and Business Strategy Conference on Tuesday, Dr. Bawumia threw some weight behind GhIPSS which he said was in a unique position “to bring the banks and telcos together to make their platforms interoperable so that you can transfer money between the telcos and the banks and so on very easily.”

He stressed that “interoperability cannot be forced” on the telcos without a prior consensus as he opined that, “there must be a sound case and people have to see the sense in it.”

Interoperability can be done in 6 months

The process itself is not rocket science, Dr. Bawumia said, as he indicated that government would like to see the realisation of the interoperability in mobile money transactions across telecom networks by the end of 2017.

“This is not rocket science; making sure there is interoperability between Ghana link, the E-Zwich platform and the mobile telephone platforms. If you put your minds to it, it can be done in six months.”

“I think it would be very nice if we all put our minds to it and I think you guys should be talking a bit more for us to get it done. I want to encourage banks and mobile network operators to collaborate to increase the range of services available to customers,” he said.

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Mobile Money interoperability can’t be forced on telcos – Bawumia appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.