Mobinil is the third operator to launch a money transfer service in Egypt, following rivals Vodafone and Etisalat.

Mobinil is offering a service called Mobicash which enables subscribers to send and receive cash without needing a bank account.

Despite recent political upheaval, Egypt’s operators are drawn by the potential scale of mobile money’s potential. The encouragement of the Central Bank of Egypt is also a factor for participants.

The country’s largest operator Vodafone recently debuted its well-known M-Pesa service in the country and Etisalat has launched its service called Flous.

BNP Paribas Egypt is Mobinil’s partner. The other two operators also have banking partners.

Subscribers wanting to join the Mobinil scheme must visit one of the operator’s dealers and present proof of identity to activate the service on the spot. The user receives an SMS with a password. Deposits are also made at a Mobinil dealer.

Transfers are made by the user inputting the number of the user to which the cash is to be delivered, as well as their password. An SMS is then sent to the recipient, who can access the cash by visiting their nearest Mobinil branch with their ID and handset.

Deposit and cash collection is currently only available via Mobinil’s own outlets. Depending on central bank approval, other outlets could be added to the Mobicash network.