Accept Tanzanian mobile money payments at your captive portal via Selcom

How it works

Selcom connects to Powerlynx via the Vendor ID, API key and API secret issued during Selcom merchant onboarding. Navigate to Config / Finance / Payment gateways / Selcom in Powerlynx, enter the three values, and choose the Production or Sandbox environment. The gateway appears in the list only when Tanzania is selected under Config / System / Localization.

The customer stays on the Powerlynx splash page the whole time. Selcom sends a payment prompt for the exact amount to the customer’s phone, and the customer approves it with their wallet PIN. If no phone number is on file, the customer is asked to enter one, and it is used for that payment only and is not saved on the customer record.

Selcom can be set as the default account for all locations or linked to a single location, and is then enabled per location in the Payment Gateways tab.

What this integration provides

• Voucher purchase from M-Pesa, Airtel Money, Tigo Pesa and Halopesa wallets at the captive portal.
• Payment prompt sent straight to the customer’s phone, with no separate payment website.
• Vendor ID, API key and API secret setup with no additional software.
• Payments settled in TZS only, with the currency taken from the Localization settings.
• Per-location account configuration, so different locations can collect into different merchant accounts.
• Payment confirmed by order status check, with the amount verified, so a payment completes even if the customer closes the browser.
• Unapproved prompts expire after 15 minutes, and the customer can retry with a new prompt.
• Production and Sandbox environments.

Credentials required

Vendor ID, API key and API secret, issued by Selcom during merchant onboarding. They are not self-service, so contact Selcom merchant support if you do not have them.

Who uses this

Hotspot operators in Tanzania who sell Wi-Fi vouchers and want customers to pay from their local mobile money wallets.

Requirements

• Tanzania selected under Config / System / Localization.
• Selcom merchant account with Vendor ID, API key and API secret.
• Selcom enabled for the location in the Payment Gateways tab.
• Data plans priced at TZS 200 or more, the Selcom minimum payment.
• Separate sandbox credentials from Selcom if the Sandbox environment is used.
• Card payments are not available through Selcom.

How to connect Selcom to Powerlynx and accept payments from Wi-Fi hotspots — step-by-step guide.