Soon, Boost Malaysia and Singtel’s Dash users will be able to use respective e-wallets across Malaysia and Singapore, thanks to a tie-up between Axiata Digital and Singtel signed at MWC19 on 27 February 2019. The two telcos signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate in the areas of mobile financial and digital services in the region.
The agreement will pave way for Boost Malaysia, Axiata Digital’s mobile wallet, to join VIA, Singtel Group’s cross-border mobile payment alliance, and to grow VIA’s footprint beyond Singapore and Thailand to Malaysia.
Both telecom giants plan to jointly promote and drive cross-border payments to grow respective user bases and merchant networks. They plan to also explore collaboration around rewards and loyalty programmes.
[UPDATE] According to a representative from Axiata Digital, the company plans to roll-out cross-border mobile payment services by the second half of the year, pending regulatory approvals.
Thanks to the VIA platform, the Boost app will be able to show currency conversion. When you scan a QR code to purchase an item or pay for a service in a foreign country (e.g. Singapore), the app will do a conversion calculation and display the price in MYR. Top up the Boost e-wallet in MYR as per usual without the hassle of converting cash into local currency.
Last year, Singtel launched VIA with Thailand’s AIS and Kasikornbank. It plans to progressively extend the alliance to include other regional affiliates like India’s Airtel, Philippines’ Globe and Indonesia’s Telkomsel, as well as non-telcos like China’s Ping eWallet. Dash recently partnered the United Nation’s Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) to introduce remittance services to Myanmar.
With Boost Malaysia onboard, the VIA alliance will get a boost of more than 66,000 additional merchant points to the alliance network.
Through VIA, Boost’s 3.7 million customers will be able to use their mobile wallet at VIA’s more than 1.6 million merchant partners across Singapore and Thailand.
As outlined by the MOU, Singtel Group’s Open Platform, a payment gateway that enables online retailers and service providers to easily connect to payment platforms within the Singtel Group, partner with Apigate, Axiata Digital’s new-breed Application Programming Interface (API) platform.
This will enable cross-sharing of product portfolios and build an ecosystem of digital services focused on areas such as mobile financial services and content including videos and gaming to reach a combined mobile customer base of more than 1 billion across Asia.
Get Boosted
Boost is available for free from Google Play and the App Store. Use code ver8my2 to get up to MYR5 cash back when you make your first prepaid credit top up. Visit www.myboost.com.my for more information.
