Telecom giant rolls out airtel money in 300+ cities pan India!

Bharti Airtel, through its wholly owned subsidiary Airtel M Commerce Services Limited (AMSL), announced the pan India launch of airtel money 'country's first of its kind mobile wallet service by a mobile operator. Available across 300 key cities in India - airtel money is a fast, simple and secure service that allows its users to load cash on their mobile devices and spend it to pay utility bills and recharges, shop at 7,000+ merchant outlets, transact online etc. Apart from serving as an easy alternative to cash / card payment options, airtel money has now become the first mobile based service to offer customers the convenience of instant money transfer from an airtel money wallet to another airtel money wallet and bank accounts. With this, customers can now use airtel money to make payments and transfer money across the country.

The national availability of airtel money follows the success of service's first phase of launch in Delhi NCR and Chennai in 2011. Commenting on the rollout, Sanjay Kapoor, CEO ' India & South Asia, Bharti Airtel said, "While an estimated 240 million people across India hold bank accounts, more than 90% of country's population uses cash to pay for its daily needs. Additionally, a majority of customers continue to rely on traditional or time consuming methods like money orders and cheque remittances when it comes to transferring funds. On the other hand, the penetration of mobile telephony currently enriches the lives of over 900 million people in our country and can facilitate a paradigm shift in the way India transacts. We see the national rollout of airtel money playing a pivotal role in accelerating mobile based commerce in India and look forward to further extending the availability of this service in deeper pockets of the country in weeks to come."

airtel mobile customers can self register for airtel money Express Account by dialling *400# from their mobile phones or sign up for the service by walking into any of the 15,000 plus airtel money outlets across the top 300 cities of India and submitting the required KYC documents.

For airtel money Power Accounts, airtel has established merchant partnerships with over 1,800 brands across the country - this includes utility providers; state electricity boards viz. BSES, Reliance Energy, Indraprastha Gas, telecom (BSNL/MTNL) and insurance (LIC) and mutual funds, organized retailers (e.g. DT Cinemas, Fun Cinemas, Megamart, Univercell, Apollo Pharmacy) as well as local chemists and grocery stores who will now accept payments via airtel money, thereby ushering a new era in the world of electronic payments.

Additionally, airtel money will work as a convenient payment alternative to debit and credit cards in days to come for online transactions on popular websites like Flipkart, Yatra, Letsbuy and even www.airtel.in. What's more - customers using airtel money will be able to avail exclusive discounts and attractive offers at various merchant outlets in the market ' and save money as they shop!

In 2010, AMSL was granted the license to use the Semi Closed Wallet by the Reserve Bank of India. The company has designed a secure and robust backend system to offer India's first mobile wallet service.