Bank introduces cross-border airtime purchases

The First National Bank of Namibia (FNB) has become the first bank in Southern Africa to offer cross-border airtime purchases, allowing customers to send airtime internationally via mobile phone.

The service is the result of two years of work on a pioneering, real-time mobile transfer system, said Yolande van Wyk, FNB's mobile and transact solutions head of expansion.

Currently, only South African FNB cell phone banking customers can make prepaid airtime purchases for customers of Namibia's Mobile Telecommunication Company. The company will extend the service to other Southern African countries in the project's second phase, Wyk said.

To use FNB's interactive financial services, customers must first register with the bank. The bank has over 4 million registered customers in Namibia and South Africa.