After MasterCard's recent introduction of Egypt's Mobile Payment Gateway, National Bank of Egypt, Fawry and Egyptian Banks Co. have launched a new mobile payment solution that lets people send money, pay phone bills, load credit to prepaid phones, make donations, reserve airline tickets and more.

The Phone Cash mobile wallet is available to banked and unbanked customers across Egypt, according to MasterCard, and will soon allow consumers to pay for goods and services at brick-and-mortar stores across Egypt, as well as e-commerce transactions across the globe.

The solution operates independently from the network of any specific mobile company, according to a news release, making NBE the first bank in Egypt and the wider Middle East to provide such facility.

"As the largest commercial bank in Egypt, NBE has been working with our partners for many years to offer the people of Egypt simple and safe ways to manage their finances," Sherif Elwy, vice chairman, NBE, said in the release. "We are delighted to announce the launch of this wallet, which does not limit consumers to one mobile network or even a specific type of handset. This product opens doors for all consumers in Egypt to have access to financial services, regardless of whether or not they have a bank account."

The solution can be downloaded on any mobile handset as an e-wallet that can be recharged with money from any Fawry outlet, and NBE customers can also link their MasterCard credit cards to the application to recharge the balance of their e-wallets.

"Fawry has been at the forefront of payment innovation in Egypt, having established ourselves as Egypt's first and largest bill payment aggregator in 2008," Ashraf Sabry, chief executive and a founder of Fawry, said in the release. "Building on our relationship with MasterCard, this new wallet can be used to deposit or withdraw cash from any of Fawry's 20,000 outlets and allows consumers in Egypt to make use of our extensive range of services via their mobile phones."

Magdy Hassan, country manager, Egypt, MasterCard, said, "Egypt has proven itself to be a market that embraces innovations in both the payment and mobile space, and we are delighted to build on the mobile payments solution that we launched with the Egyptian Banks Company in this dynamic market. Solutions like these are rapidly opening doors for consumers from all walks of life, whether simplifying day-to-day payments or creating worlds of opportunities for those who have not previously had access to formal banking solutions."

Learn more about mobile wallets.