MTN is planning to unseat WhatsApp and Telegram messenger with its upcoming messenger app, and according to MTN CEO, it will function has the Wechat of Africa.
It will have mobile payment option for the unbanked and underbanked.
The company plans to launch the platform, its own Music Streaming service, and an improved Mobile Money offering.
“We have built our own instant messaging platform which has been in beta testing for months now,”
MTN messaging app would launch across the group’s entire portfolio, including Nigeria and South Africa.
The rollout of the application will begin in African markets as a pilot and expand to other markets like South Africa going forward.
The MTN Instant messenger app will offer communication channels which are not only reliant on data.
“First and foremost, we are building in SMS integration into the messaging app. This is really important,” he said.
The integration of SMS will allow data-enabled 3G customers to converse with non-data customers across a seamless messaging platform.
Major Differences Between MTN Instant Messenger and Other Messengers
1.MTN’s messaging app is built from scratch by an in-house team and will offer localization across MTN’s operational markets. The app currently supports 54 languages
2. Integration of MTN Mobile Money in the markets where this service is offered
3. The platform would be a messaging-concentric app with an embedded payment mechanism, and it will also offer incentives for customers via the bundling of data promotions and services.
Integrating this platform within the MTN messaging application would allow users to make payments to other Mobile Money customers easily, while also communicating with other users via data-reliant and SMS messaging.
MTN Instant Messenger will roll out this year to specific African nations, and MTN Mobile Money will expand to South Africa, Nigeria, Afghanistan, and Sudan this year.
What do you think?
Hope it works
Let them try, we will see how it goes.
Welcome developmemt all thesame
This is long overdue considering their customer base in South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria and other African countries. This is what GTbank did with their Habari app, but its a complete turn off for me.
Imaging MTN instant Messaging giving you free 1GB just to download… this will surely be a game changer
Good though I don’t see how that will unseat whatsapp.
it can only try to unseat whatsapp ONLY if it will work without subbing for data on MTN network
Unseat you said Oga, I can’t see MTN doing that in the next 10 year. I didn’t like WeChat App a bit and if we looking at the population and adoption of WhatsApp and Telegram in Africa alone, saying MTN will “Unseat” WhatsApp and Telegram with some sort of chat app is impossible.
We no want app…we want cheap and reliable data…stingy network
Joker
Let’s see if they can really unseat whatsapp and telegram
Lol. But At list some developers will make money from them.
Another way to make money…
Introducing….. Another Dead on Arrival from MTN.
Good to dream
Where is 2go Today? BBM?
Joke of the century….na only noise dem go dey make
They should give us cheap data and not a wannabe WhatsApp
I laughed hard when I saw this headline. But after reading through, I’m kinda optimistic.
I hope this will be good
I don’t know why it took them this long. I have been waiting for something like this. MTN has large users on their platform. What are doing with it. I pray they get it right.