Mobifone has received approval from the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) for the pilot implementation of Mobile Money, the country’s direct carrier billing service.

Mobile Money is set to accelerate Vietnam's digitalization process. File photo

With such a move, Mobifone has become the first major mobile carrier in Vietnam getting the license for piloting the service in two years nationwide until November 18, 2023.

Mobile Money allows people to transfer money through a cellphone account instead of a bank account to make payments of less than VND10 million (US$428.9) per month, wire transfer, cash withdrawal, or reloading at Mobifone’s dealers across the country.

A novelty of this service is that customers would not be required to have a smartphone or internet connection.

In the first phase, MobiFone is set to provide the service at its 600 stores and distributors, and eventually to expand to 10,000 dealers.

The Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) has suggested the pilot implementation of Mobile Money would help expand e-payment services to 100% of the population, especially those in rural, remote areas, or mountainous regions that traditional banking services or e-wallet are not yet available.

Mobile Money is among key solutions for Vietnam to push for non-cash payment, promote e-commerce, online public services towards a comprehensive transformation into a digital society, for which the adoption of the new service is estimated to boost economic growth by 0.5 percentage points.

To achieve the goal of becoming a cashless society, the government targeted to reduce cash payments from 11.3% in 2019 to less than 10% by the end of this year, and 8% by 2025.