Vodafone Qatar has launched a new revolutionary service that enables its customers to instantly make international money remittances directly from their mobile phones.

The new service, Vodafone Money Transfer, is safe, simple, quick and the most convenient way to send money to family overseas, said a company statement.

The service, which has been approved by Qatar Central Bank, will make it easier for the over one million expatriates living in Qatar to send money to their countries, it added.

In partnership with Doha Bank, Vodafone’s financial services provider for Vodafone Money Transfer, and Globe Telecom, the new service will enable customers to instantly make mobile-to-mobile money transfer from Qatar to the Philippines.

In the future, Vodafone Money Transfer will be expanding remittance options beyond the Philippines to countries across Asia, Africa and the Middle East, said a top official.

“We are thrilled to be launching this groundbreaking service that will change the way people send money abroad and make a world of difference to so many people’s lives,” said John Tombleson, Vodafone acting CEO.

'Vodafone Money Transfer happened in Qatar thanks to the positive and forward thinking attitudes of the people, businesses and regulators in this country. Qatar has now established itself as a global leader in innovative financial services,' he added.

For now, Vodafone Money Transfer users in Qatar will be able to send funds directly from their mobile phones to any GCash enabled mobile in Philippines, or send money to a bank account or for collection at a GCash Remit outlet.

All Vodafone and GCash transactions are secured with a PIN to ensure security of the fund transfer. In addition, both the sender and recipient are notified of the transaction via SMS.

The service launch featured a live remittance demo from Doha to Manila performed by Ambassador of the Philippines to Qatar Crescente Relacion and celebrity TV personality Bianca Gonzalez in Manila, which took less than 5 minutes, end to end, proving how quick and easy to use Vodafone Money Transfer is.  

'Vodafone has led mobile money services in Africa and across the world, with more than 20 million people using Vodafone to transfer money locally and internationally,' explained senior product manager, Markus Bikker.

'Our ability to leverage the experience, best practices and people from across the Vodafone Group has been instrumental in being able to take this next step with international transfers from here in Qatar,' he remarked.

“Current remittance services are rather costly, an average transmission of money to an international destination costs around QR20. With Vodafone Money Transfer customers can send money to a GCash phones to the Philippines within minutes and it costs only QR12,' said Bikker.

'Now more of people’s hard earned money gets to where it’s needed with Vodafone Money Transfer,' Bikker added.-TradeArabia News Service