Airtel Africa announced its partnership with Mastercard, giving mobile phone users across 14 African countries access to Mastercard’s global network.

The Mastercard virtual card allows Airtel Money customers, even without a bank account, to make payments to local and global online merchants that accept Mastercard cards.

Airtel Money customers will be able to make in-person payments at outlets via Quick Response (QR) codes. There are over 1 million merchant locations across Africa that accept Mastercard QR payments.

Airtel Africa recently announced the milestone of 100 million subscriber base, becoming the second largest telecom operator in Africa.

Airtel Money customers will also benefit from competitive pricing and preferential exchange rates for international payments, and gain access to other use cases including bill payments, merchants payments and value added services such as cash management solutions.

“The partnership between Airtel and Mastercard will enable over 100 million Airtel Africa customers make safe mobile money purchases online and in person,” Raghunath Mandava, CEO of Airtel Africa said.