Accra, Jan. 12, GNA - Zain, the leading mobile telecommunications provider in the Middle East and Africa, on Tuesday announced the expansion of 'Zap', its mobile commerce service to Niger, Sierra Leone and Malawi.

A statement signed by Mr Henking Adjase, Public Relations Coordinator of Zain Ghana, said this mobile commerce service was introduced in these three countries in partnership with leading international banks.

It said this would allow Zain customers in Zap-enabled countries to use their mobile phone to withdraw cash or pay for goods and services, school fees and utility bills, including electricity and water.

The statement said customers on the service could use it to receive money from or send money to friends and families, send and receive money to their bank accounts, top-up their or someone else's airtime and manage their bank accounts.

It said the move followed the successful launch of the service in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda in February 2009 where more than 10 million people had subscribed to it.

The statement said "Zap is the most comprehensive and accessible mobile commerce service in Africa, now serving over 150 million people in six countries on the continent, allowing them access to advanced financial services through their mobile phones".

It said: "Zap is also part of Zain's pioneering 'One Network' platform, allowing customers to benefit from all of the Zap features when travellin= g to an associate Zain 'One Network' country.

"The platform allows travelling customers to move across geographic borders without roaming surcharges, make calls/SMS at local rates, receive incoming calls for free as well as recharge their mobile phones with locally purchased top up cards" it said.

The statement said with this expansion, Zain was now the biggest mobile commerce operator in the world in terms of geographic coverage, enabled customers and service functionalities.

It said the Zap mobile commerce service provided customers with increased security and flexibility, reducing the need to carry cash and ensuring that payments between friends and family remained secured.