mopay, a provider of payment solutions for online merchants, is extending its international coverage to incorporate 15 countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) (view press release). mopay’s MENA coverage will include Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen. The company claims that the region has an absence of alternative payment methods and a lack of customer confidence in conventional payment methods. However, the MENA has experienced an increase in internet usage, with steady annual growth rates of around 30% over the last three years. A large part of this online growth is driven through mobile platforms. Around 60% of all mobile phones in the UAE and Saudi Arabia are smartphones, which outweighs the US by 22%. According to Google’s annual Mobile Planet smartphone study, the majority of smartphone owners in MENA are more willing to shop via mobile than on their PCs. 80% of Egyptian smartphone owners shop via their mobile at least once a month, compared to 65% in the US and 56% in the UK. This suggests that the surging smartphone penetration in all MENA countries will significantly impact overall online commerce in the coming years.