Mr Arthur Lang, CEO of Singtel’s International Group, said, “Our partnership with Axiata Digital adds further momentum to the Singtel Group’s goal to empower consumers to transact seamlessly across borders, and deliver even more exciting entertainment choices and experiences through the ecosystem of digital services that we are creating.”

Axiata Digital’s Boost Malaysia mobile wallet to join Singtel Group’s VIA alliance

The agreement will pave the way for Boost Malaysia, Axiata Digital’s mobile wallet, to join VIA, the Singtel Group’s cross-border mobile payment alliance, and grow VIA’s footprint beyond Singapore and Thailand to Malaysia. As Malaysia’s leading mobile wallet, Boost Malaysia will add over 66,000 merchant points to the alliance’s network, expanding the reach of the payment service for millions of Singtel Dash and AIS GLOBAL Pay users already on VIA. Boost Malaysia’s 3.7 million customers will also be able to use their mobile wallet at VIA’s more than 1.6 million merchant partners in Singapore and Thailand.

Both Singtel and Axiata Digital plan to jointly promote and drive cross-border payments to grow their respective user bases and merchant networks, and explore collaboration around rewards and loyalty programmes.

Mr Lang added, “We are delighted to welcome Boost Malaysia on board the VIA alliance, which gives us presence in an important new market. This shows the tremendous potential for us to grow crossborder mobile payments even beyond the countries where Singtel’s regional associates operate. VIA’s continued expansion will provide consumers with the ease and convenience of using one mobile wallet to pay across multiple regional markets as they travel. We look forward to more partners joining VIA.”

Echoing Mr Lang’s sentiment, Mr Mohd Khairil Abdullah, CEO of Axiata Digital said, “Mobile wallet interoperability has been high on our priority list and we’re excited to kick off this partnership with one of the region’s biggest technology companies. Boost’s merchant base is growing at a strong pace and we’re looking forward to serving Singtel’s e-wallet users when they visit Malaysia. At the same time, we are also excited to potentially help drive revenue growth for our merchant partners who can now benefit from having our neighbours across the causeway visit their outlets. Vice versa, Boost users will also enjoy the same convenience when visiting Singapore, Thailand and in future other countries across the region.”

VIA was launched by the Singtel Group in October 2018, with partners AIS, Singtel’s regional associate, and Kasikornbank, Thailand’s digital bank, to create a region-wide payment network that will enable consumers to securely and conveniently pay with their mobile wallets when they travel in Asia Pacific. The Group plans to progressively expand this alliance to include other regional associates Airtel in India, Globe in the Philippines, Telkomsel in Indonesia, working within each country’s regulations, as well as non-telcos.

Enhanced digital suite of services and seamless payments for customers

The MOU will also see the Singtel Group’s Open Platform, a payment gateway that enables online retailers and service providers to easily connect to the payment platforms of all members of 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 also allow world class digital content from over 300 gaming and entertainment service providers to be offered to consumers who can securely and conveniently pay with direct carrier billing and mobile wallets.

“This agreement opens the door for Singtel Group to collaborate with Apigate’s next generation API ecosystem to create innovative propositions for customers,” said Mr Zoran Vasiljev, CEO of Apigate.

The Singtel Group’s partnership with Apigate will build an ecosystem of digital services with a focus on areas such as mobile financial services and content including videos and gaming to engage a combined mobile customer base of more than 1 billion across Asia.