mPowa

mobile wallet with integrated Point of Sale

mPowa (pronounced empower) is a complete mobile wallet solution designed and developed by mHITs and deployed in Papua New Guinea.

The service is unique in that it includes a Point of Sale capability as part of the solution.  As well as providing standard mobile wallet services including person-to-person and merchant payment capability via a mobile handset, mPowa also provided merchants with the ability to accept payments at Retail Point of Sale via specially developed Point of Sale terminal hardware.

Point of Sale terminal provides proof of purchase receipt

The terminal hardware integrates seamlessly into the mPowa platform allowing instantaneous payments with the benefit of a printed receipt to provide proof of purchase.  The terminal also provides a platform for cash-loading and cash-out of the mPowa mobile wallet, again with the benefit of a printed receipt for proof.  Terminal transaction data is available to the merchant in electronic form reconciliation and audit purposes.

By introducing the Point of Sale terminal in retail environments such as supermarkets, it enables mainstream adoption and participation of mPowa account holders in the broader economy.

how it works

The mPowa services uses a combination of two-way interactive USSD and SMS and requires a PIN for transaction authorisation.  The PIN is also required for Point of Sale transactions.

For transactions initiated from a mobile handset, users enter a service code followed by parameters depending upon the type of transaction being made. Users can perform the following functions:

• account balance
• person-to-person payment (pay another mPowa account holder)
• purchase from an mPowa merchant
• retail purchases (via mPOS terminal)
• purchase carrier airtime
• domestic cash transfer (DCT)
• cash load (via mPOS terminal)
• cash out (via mPOS terminal)

For information on the mPowa service visit www.mpowa.com.pg.