M-payments development in the Middle East with Paymate and Obopay

Mobile payments will likely be adopted by the financial institutions and telecom operators in the Middle East. While these local companies are considering the possibility to launch such kind of services a number of foreign players specialized in mobile payment platforms and technologies are already partnering with the Middle East organizations to facilitate payments through mobile phones.

For 2 years already UK-based Mi-Pay is operating in the region. Mi-Pay established a relationship with du and moneyexchange – a money transfer company. It is working du and moneyexchange – a money transfer company having plans to add a datacentre in the Dubai office to complete their UAE operations.

Besides, local banks are also taking first steps to enter the market sector with Mashreq bank partnering with India-based Paymate on mobile payments. But Paymate is not the only Indian company to venture into the UAE market. Obopay is also negotiating with financial institutions in the region.

"We are already present in North Africa and have done reasonable business in the region. In the Indian market there are 400 to 500 million mobile users, which is increasing by at least eight to nine million users every month. Many of them don't even have a basic bank account and we have been able to serve them. With the high mobile penetration here, this kind of a service should be a success," said Vijay Balakrishnan, CMO of Obopay.