Airtel, Mastercard introduce Virtual Debit Card

Kampala, Uganda | Julius Businge | Technological advancements, innovations continue to emerge in the world economy to facilitate transactions and related services across sectors of life.

On Jan.11, Airtel Uganda, in partnership with Mastercard introduced a virtual debit card offering to enable customers transact online globally.

The virtual (non-plastic) card allows Airtel Money customers, even those without a bank account to make payments to local and global online merchants that accept Mastercard cards like Netflix, Uber, Amazon, Google play, Aliexpress, Alibaba, while ensuring that the customer’s financial data is always secure and private.

“Airtel and Mastercard have a shared passion for digital transformation and making mobile financial services accessible to everyone across the country,” said Amit Kapur, the chief commercial officer for Airtel Uganda.

He added that service users can conveniently do online shopping, pay tuition and subscriptions to their favourite sites and Apps.

Amnah Ajmal, the executive vice president for market development at Mastercard in charge of Middle East and Africa said their digital partnerships strategy remains focused on enabling digital transformation for their partners, consumers to enjoy seamless access to payments and a superior experience.

“We are very excited to partner with Airtel to lead the transition to digital by enabling access to our millions of consumers for online and in-person payments across the globe,” he said, “Mastercard is uniquely positioned as a single technology provider to enable our digital partners like Airtel to transition seamlessly into digital.”

The virtual card is valid for one year and a customer has the option to delete it at any time and generate another one instantly, re-emphasising the security proofing the card offers.

Since the virtual card is linked to the customer’s Airtel Money Wallet, the Airtel Money balance is always the card balance. All transactions have a maximum charge of Shs 1,000, executives said.