MTN plans to launch a mobile money transfer product in Rwanda by December.

MTN Mobile Money will be available to over one million subscribers, and there are plans to spread the service regionally and internationally, reports The East African.

Money transfers by mobile phones have been quite successful in East Africa, pioneered by  Safaricom’s Mpesa service in Kenya. 

Only about 13.3% of the nine million population in Rwanda use banking facilities, and MTN expects the service to be widely successful with the under-banked.

The mobile services provider has started testing the new system, a process chief executive officer Khaled Mikkawi says is critical whenever a new product is being launched to the market. 

The MTN Group money transfer system for Africa has already been piloted in Cameroon, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire and Nigeria.