October 12, 2014: Telenor is considering the options to launch mobile money services in Indian market. The company has successful floated this services in few of their markets including Bangladesh and Pakistan. RBI recently gave permission for setting up payment banks especially targeting migrant workers to take care of their payment transfer needs back to their homes and families. Mobile Service Providers are also considered for giving permission to set up such payment banks which will offer services like small saving account opening, payment and remittances.
Telenor has a fully owned financial institution in Serbia and is also a leader in providing mobile money services in some of the Asian markets. They hope to replicate that success in much larger Indian market too. Its Indian subsidiary, Uninor is already offering a provision to buy movie tickets with their prepaid balance amount. According to the company sources, they have contracted Boston Consulting Group for doing a feasibility study of offering financial services to Asian markets including India.
Uninor has around 4 crore subscribers in around six circles. The company intends to maintain its market differentiation as the provider with lowest service rates. They are planning to differentiate by providing mobile internet services too at the least possible rate compared to the other telecom players in the market. Once they decide to offer payment banking services too, their market share could see a major raise.
