Ericsson and MTN Group Fintech Complete Major Cloud-Native Mobile Money Migration Across Africa

Ericsson and MTN Group Fintech have successfully transitioned the Mobile Money (MoMo) platform to a cloud-native architecture across several African markets. For fintech professionals, this migration signifies a massive shift in infrastructure efficiency, slashing database loads and improving API responsiveness to support the high-volume transaction demands of the continent’s digital economy.

What was announced

The "MoMo Evolved Migration" project has been completed in Eswatini, Ghana, Rwanda, and Uganda. Built on the Ericsson Fintech Platform, the initiative moves MTN MoMo from a legacy virtualized environment to a standardized cloud-native architecture. This technical overhaul is designed to provide a more resilient and scalable foundation for digital financial services, directly supporting the MTN Group Ambition 2030 strategy.

The performance metrics following the migration are significant. MTN reported a reduction in CPU processing overhead and database load of up to 86%. Furthermore, the transition has resulted in faster API response times of up to 80%. These improvements are critical for the ecosystem of developers, merchants, and partners who rely on the platform’s stability and speed.

The expansion of this modernization effort is already underway. A similar project is currently active in Cameroon, and discussions are ongoing to bring Benin, Republic of the Congo, and Zambia onto the same cloud-native path. Additionally, selected operating companies within the group are exploring the potential of moving these services to the public cloud to further enhance operational flexibility.

"The MoMo Evolved Migration advances our vision of building Africa's leading digital financial platform. Through a cloud-native foundation, we are enhancing performance, strengthening resilience, and accelerating the delivery of innovative digital financial services for consumers, merchants, and partners across our markets."

Artemij Demidczyk, Acting Chief Technology and Information Officer at MTN Group Fintech.

The companies involved

Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) is a global leader in communications technology, providing hardware, software, and services to enable the digital transformation of telecommunications and financial service providers. The company’s fintech division focuses on providing the underlying infrastructure for mobile money services, particularly in emerging markets where mobile-first financial inclusion is a primary economic driver.

MTN Group Fintech is the financial services arm of MTN Group, one of Africa’s largest telecommunications providers. The MoMo platform is a cornerstone of the region’s fintech landscape, offering millions of users access to payments, remittances, and micro-finance services. The partnership between Ericsson and MTN Group Fintech spans more than a decade, evolving from basic mobile wallet services to the current high-performance, cloud-native ecosystem. This collaboration is central to the "Ambition 2030" framework, which seeks to position the group as a leading provider of digital solutions across the African continent.

What FF News has reported before

While this specific infrastructure migration marks a new chapter for Ericsson and MTN, FF News has tracked the broader movement of digital infrastructure and market shifts within the fintech sector. We previously reported on how VP Fintech Group Acquires GlblNexus Inc. to Scale Global Digital Infrastructure, highlighting the industry-wide focus on scaling backend capabilities. Additionally, our coverage of the Nasdaq-listed space includes the MemeCore Principals Ink $1 Billion Strategic Transaction with Nasdaq-Listed ZeroStack for Decentralized AI Expansion, illustrating the high-stakes financial maneuvers occurring among major technology players.

What this means

This announcement moves the needle by proving that "cloud-native" is no longer just a buzzword for Western neobanks, but a functional necessity for mass-market financial inclusion in Africa. By achieving an 86% reduction in database load, Ericsson and MTN have set a high bar for infrastructure efficiency that will put pressure on other regional mobile money providers still operating on legacy virtualized stacks. The move toward public cloud exploration also raises a significant question for the sector: how will African regulators balance the need for such high-performance global infrastructure with strict data sovereignty requirements? As transaction volumes grow, the ability to scale without linear cost increases will separate the market leaders from the laggards.