Abu Dhabi, Nov 7 : Etisalat Group, one of the leading telecom operators in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, has picked up two awards for the roll out of innovative mobile commerce solutions at the Mobile Money Global Awards.

"We are delighted to win these awards, as it is recognition that Etisalat is spreading the benefits of mobile finance to under-banked communities all over the world," Khalifa Al Shamsi, chief digital services officer at Etisalat Group, was quoted Thursday as saying.

"Mobile commerce encourages economic growth and that leads to more jobs and better standards of living, and entire communities are benefiting from innovative telecoms products such as this throughout Etisalat's global footprint," he added.

Etisalat and MasterCard won the award for 'Best Mobile Money Deployment in the Middle East' for the launch of Felous in Egypt, while Etisalat won in the 'Best Bank Led Mobile Money Programme' category for a new innovative mobile commerce solution in Pakistan. Etisalat is already offering mobile commerce services in 10 operations of the group.

Felous, which translates as “money", spreads the benefits of finance by enabling customers to use their mobile phones like digital wallets to pay for goods and services, transfer money to friends and family, withdraw and deposit cash, top up mobile phones and manage bank accounts.

Customers who sign up to the service can use their phones like debit cards with a virtual account. The service, which requires a password for each transaction, is designed to give security and flexibility, giving users access to money 24 hours a day, seven days a week.(IANS)