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GSMA Interoperability test platform
- UK Country
- Mobile money Industry
- Interoperability test platform Type
ABOUT
GSMA unites regulatory authorities, governments and more than 750 mobile operators into one mobile ecosystem intending to work together around 5G, RCS, IoT, Roaming, Security and SIM Technology.
One of the focus areas of the GSMA Inclusive Tech Lab is mobile money interoperability.
Put simply, interoperability means that mobile money providers can interconnect their technical platforms with each other even if they are in different countries, while also enabling them to connect their mobile money service with traditional financial service providers or card payment systems.
To enable interoperability, GSMA created its own Mobile Money API for easy integration between mobile money operators and service providers. It will allow people in emerging economies to send or receive money regardless of the mobile network they use.
GOAL
Approximately half of the population in emerging economies is not integrated into the financial system and are “financially excluded”. GSMA aims to create a robust mobile money ecosystem that will drive the financial inclusion of the underbanked people in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
As part of this initiative, the Inclusive Tech Lab planned to create an interoperable test platform that would be the first joint end-to-end test environment to test interoperable mobile money solutions, including joining two key technologies, GSMA Mobile Money API and Mojaloop.
Before the system can be used by a wider audience of digital finance service providers, it needs to be tested by its potential participants, that’s where the GSMA Interoperability Test Platform enter in place to help the industry players in a free and open-source environment.
“The platform empowers both third-party service providers and digital financial service providers to test their software implementation in an end-to-end ecosystem. It solves complex testing scenarios through the simulation of the different ecosystem entities, the different APIs and different use cases.”
— Bart-Jan Pors, Director, Inclusive Fintech, GSMA
SOLUTION
In under 2 months, our tech team developed an MVP for the interoperability test platform deploying Mojaloop and integrating GSMA Mobile Money API. And after 5 months of project, version 1.0 is live!
How it works
Mobile money is an alternative to bank accounts which works as an electronic wallet service. It allows people to store, send, or receive money using their mobile phone, even the simplest one like Nokia. There is no need for Internet connection
The test platform combines two mobile money technologies: the GSMA Mobile Money API which enables seamless integration between service providers and mobile money operators, and Mojaloop.
Mojaloop, open-source software sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, allows conducting financial transactions between organisations from different industries: for example, between banks and mobile money operators.
By combining Mojaloop and Mobile Money API, GSMA plans to launch an interoperable test platform for mobile payment system with low-value transactions for the underbanked people.
Platform architecture
What we did
Our team of DevOps, backend and frontend engineers, UX/UI designers built a custom testing platform that allows mobile money operators to simulate different scenarios and test certain use cases.
The simulators were to simulate mobile operators and service providers, using APIs to connect to Mojaloop hub.
The test platform was built in PHP Laravel and Vue.
Mojaloop scope of work:
- set up and upgrade of the operational Mojaloop on our own hardware and AWS;
- active research and usage of around 20 main micro-services that are required to enable money transaction flows;
- integration and usage of the Mojaloop API for performing the test money transactions between financial providers through the Mojaloop.
Result
The test system has been released and allows testing a specific functionality or run a full cycle to test all features.
Teams can interact with each other with the minimum configuration required:
Transaction scenarios:
- transfer
- deposit
- withdrawal
- payment
- refund
Use cases:
- The payer would like to purchase goods or services from a merchant but they are each using different wallet providers.
- The payer would like to send money to a Payee but each of them is using different wallet providers.
Test cases are split into “happy” and “unhappy” and cover all the variations for a use case. They typically include a few alternative paths that evaluate the exceptions and errors in the use case.
Tech stack
- Mojaloop
- GSMA Mobile Money API
- Laravel
- Vue.js
- Amazon Web Services
- Docker
- Redis
- MySQL
Bruno Martins Technology Lead at GSMA
We had a hard deadline for the MVP of early March, which JustCoded met. They are a great company to work in Agile methodology with, adapt quickly, and have great attitudes when fixing issues that arise. They’re also helpful in finding solutions to help us out.