Qtel has announced plans to make mobile money services available for customers across its international operations at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

With its regional footprint covering 17 countries, and more than 53 million customers, the Qtel Group is confident that it will generate strong demand for these services.

In particular, with millions of dollars remitted from the Gulf region to Asian countries every year by expatriate workers, executives are confident that mobile money will have important social as well as financial benefits.

Among the services being developed as part of the Qtel Group’s mobile money proposition, are secure international mobile remittance, mobile payment and mobile recharge facilities.

“There is a significant community of under-banked and un-banked segments in the Middle East, North Africa and Asia, and mobile money services will play an increasingly important role in addressing their needs,” said Dr Nasser Marafih, chief executive, Qtel Group.

Research from leading group Gartner suggests that more than three billion of the world’s adult population will be able to transact electronically via mobile or other Internet-based technology by 2014, he added.-TradeArabia News Service