Accepting MTN & Airtel Mobile Money on Your Hotspot

Cash vouchers work, but they tie up someone at a counter, invite theft, and cap your sales to opening hours. Mobile money lets a customer pay and connect at 2am with no staff involved.

How the flow works

1. The customer picks a plan on the captive portal and enters their phone number.
2. They receive an MTN MoMo or Airtel Money prompt and enter their PIN.
3. The payment confirms, a voucher is issued automatically, and the device is connected.

The whole thing takes under a minute when the networks are healthy.

What about fees?

Aggregators charge a percentage per collection. Build that into your plan price — if the fee is 3% and your daily plan is UGX 2,000, you net roughly UGX 1,940. Most operators simply round plan prices up to absorb it.

Reducing failed payments

• Show clear instructions while the prompt is pending — many customers don't know to check their phone.
• Give the payment 90 seconds before timing out.
• Offer a "retry" button that re-sends the prompt rather than starting over.

Connect-ISP handles the aggregator integration, retries, and automatic voucher issue, and shows every transaction — successful or failed — in your payment logs.