DIGICEL Fiji last week announced plans to offer a range of mobile financial capabilities in the Pacific country, Fiji.

“Digicel Mobile Money” service, as it is called, will offer services that include money transfer domestically along with bill payment capabilities.

The service stems from a partnership with Post Fiji and Westpac.

While Fiji is the first of the six Pacific Digicel markets in which operates to receive this service, the telecomm is already preparing to roll out the money service in that region to facilitate regional mobile money transfers.

In a press statement issued last week, Digicel said the project, which was in development for over ten months, is regulated by the Reserve Bank of Fiji and supported by the United Nations Development Programme’s Pacific Financial Inclusion Fund (PFIP) and the GSM Association (GSMA) with a view to promoting financial inclusion within Fiji and the Pacific Islands.

PFIP received funding support through the Australian Aid Programme to assist Digicel with the introduction of the Mobile-Wallet technology in Fiji, which is considered a key innovation for broadening access to financial services for the most remote and rural communities in the country.

“Digicel Mobile Money aims to assist in addressing the needs of the 70 per cent of Fijians who do not have access to basic financial services,” said the release. “Digicel has completed a comprehensive series of trials, monitored by the Reserve Bank, which included real-time testing by customers of secure international and national Mobile Money transfers, cash-in and cash-out transactions, bill payments and salary payments to mobiles.”

Customers will be able to access the service by simply sending a three-digit much like accessing its other services while cash deposits and withdrawals can be done at Digicel and Post Fiji outlets and eventually Westpac branches across Fiji.

“Over 100 outlets will soon be available,” claimed Digicel.

Digicel Group boasts 10.8 million customers across its 32 markets in the Caribbean, Central America and the Pacific.

The PFIP is a Pacific-wide programme that helps provide sustainable financial services to low-income households. It is funded by the United Nations Capital Development Fund, the Australian Agency for International Development, the European Union and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and operates from the UNDP Pacific Centre.