MTN, which has operations in 21 countries across the Middle East and Africa – and is the second-biggest mobile operator in South Africa, its home market – has partnered with Skrill, a global online payments company, to expand the range of products that its mobile money users can purchase.

MTN customers in Ivory Coast and Rwanda will be the first to see the partnership in action when the ‘Pay by Skrill’ service is introduced this month.

Skrill says it helps over 156,000 businesses to sell goods with online payment solutions. It also has over 35 million customer account holders of its own.

“Our partnership with Skrill is another important step in our journey to offer customers the ability to use mobile money for online purchases,” said Pieter Verkade, MTN Group chief commercial officer. “Through this partnership, MTN is enabling global digital payments, further enhancing our mobile money wallet. After Ivory Coast and Rwanda, the service will be extended to Benin and Uganda, with other markets to follow soon thereafter.”

Mobile money customers of MTN don’t need to open a Skrill account. Users can simply go to the website of a Skrill merchant, select a purchase and choose the option ‘Pay by Skrill’.

MTN saw the number of its registered mobile money subscribers go up 24 per cent, to 18.4 million, during the first six months of 2014. The operator does not make it clear what revenue impact the increase has had, nor does it give detail of breakdown by country. It does note, however, there’s a higher percentage of active mobile money users than before.

Even so, the mobile money subscriber base is tiny compared with the 215 million group tally of subscribers MTN had as of 30 June 2014.