Mobile Money covers 16% population in sub-Saharan Africa (Africa)
Money transfer via mobile phones has expanded to 16 percent of the total population in sub-Saharan Africa, according to a new World Bank study, as reported by Mobile Money Africa. The Global Financial Inclusion Database, or Global Findex, has found only 3 percent of the population in the rest of the world take advantage of money transfers through mobile phones.
As per the report, in sub-Saharan Africa, take-up of mobile money services, pioneered by Kenya-based Safaricom’s M-Pesa service, has been boosted by the fact that traditional banking is hampered by transportation and other infrastructure problems.
A statement issued by World Bank claims that money transfers through mobile phones is a form of increasingly nontraditional banking that often doesn’t require users to travel or set up an account at a brick-and-mortar bank. Further, such mobile banking allows account holders to pay bills, make deposits or conduct other transactions via text messaging. Kenya, where 68 percent of adults report using a mobile phone for money transactions, has seen particularly impressive growth in this market.
As revealed in the report, said Asli Demirguc-Kunt, the Bank’s director of development policy and chief economist of the Finance and Private Sector Network, said that nearly two-thirds of the unbanked cite poverty as the obstacle to financial access, but about a third also blame the cost of opening and maintaining an account or the bank’s being too far away, which means long bus rides for many.
In markets like Uganda, mobile money transfer services have become a revenue generator, with players hotly competing for users as margins on voice services have been driven down over the years. MTN Uganda, for example, has more than 2 million registered customers after launching in March 2009. MTN reported recently that US$100 million gets transferred over the service every month.
The four mobile money offerings in Uganda including MTN Mobile Money, Airtel Money, Warid-Pesa and Uganda Telecom’s M-Sente are largely similar, allowing registered users to load money into their accounts, make transfers to other users, buy recharge vouchers as well as withdraw money.
Western Union and MTN Uganda launch Mobile Money transfer service (Uganda)
The Western Union Company and MTN Group have announced the launch of a mobile money transfer service in Uganda, allowing MTN customers to send and receive money across borders using just their mobile phones for the first time.
The service marks the debut of an offering from Western Union that allows the more than 2 million customers of MTN’s mobile money transfer service, Mobile Money, in Uganda to add funds to their accounts that were sent through Western Union’s system. Senders send the funds as they normally would – either in-person at 450,000 Western Union Agent locations in 200 countries and territories, from www.westernunion.com in 22 countries or directly from a bank account in select countries. The receiver of the funds simply chooses to pull the transaction into a MTN Mobile Money account.
The new service also enables MTN customers to send money internationally with Western Union directly from their Mobile Money accounts for cash payout at Western Union Agent locations worldwide or to subscribers of select mobile phone companies with which Western Union has agreements.
Western Union and MTN also announced today that they will provide 9,000 branded mobile ‘Yellow Phones’ to Ugandans. Customers who receive these phones must already have an active MTN Mobile Money account or sign up for one in order to use the new remittance service. The phones will be given away via ongoing promotions throughout Uganda over the next few months.
Diane Scott, Executive Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer and President, Western Union Ventures, said that Western Union is changing quickly and they are leading the way in bringing international remittances to mobile subscribers around the globe. Further, their network of nearly half a million locations, their experience in moving money across borders, and their relationships with the world’s most successful mobile operators such as MTN, ideally position them to introduce many people to cross-border financial services.
Scott also said that the mobile money transfer service will unlock new economic opportunities for thousands of underserved consumers in Uganda, whose financial needs are not being met elsewhere. By deploying these powerful tools for sending and receiving funds – particularly in areas lacking financial infrastructure – Western Union and MTN are helping to create more self-sufficient local economies.
Christian de Faria, MTN Group Chief Commercial Officer, said that MTN Mobile Money has seen great success in Uganda. They currently have more than 2 million Mobile Money customers, and continue to grow exponentially. By joining forces with Western Union, customers can now receive funds directly in their MTN Mobile Money accounts quickly and easily. MTN looks forward to expanding this offering in new countries with Western Union.
MTN has deployed its Mobile Money service in 12 markets, including Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Cameroon and Rwanda. Following the launch of the Mobile Money transfer in Uganda, MTN and Western Union plan to introduce the service in other countries where Mobile Money is offered, and where regulation permits international remittance.
Bharti Airtel to launch Mobile Money Transfer Service in Madagascar
Bharti Airtel Ltd. will begin operating a money-transfer service in Madagascar today to beat demand for financial services among the unbanked.
According to Heiko Schlittke, Director of Airtel’s Malagasy unit, the service will compete with Orange SA’s Orange Money and the M-Vola product offered by Telma, the state-run phone company.
He added that the company is targeting 3.2 million mobile-phone customers on the Indian Ocean island nation by the end of 2011, compared with 2 million now. Airtel plans to invest $50 million in the country over the next 18 months.
As per Schlittke, he expects 90% of the company’s customers to be using Airtel Money in one way or another by July 2011.
Essar Telecom Kenya to launch Mobile Money-Transfer Service
Essar Communications Holdings Ltd.’s Kenyan unit will initiate a mobile-phone money-transfer service in partnership with Equity Bank Ltd., the East African nation’s biggest provider of small loans.
According to Equity Bank Chief Executive Officer James Mwangi, the service to be offered by Essar Telecom Kenya Ltd., known as Yu Money, will reduce the cost of doing financial transactions.
Essar Telecom Kenya Limited (ETKL) is a unit of India based Essar Group. ETKL launched a mobile service network under the brand yu†in November 2008 in Kenya. The company has built the best network using the latest equipment ensuring clarity and reliability. The company provides services like Voice, SMS, Mobile Data, Mobile Money Transfer (yuCash), Electronic Mobile top-up (Eneza), Caller Ring Back Tones (Dunda) and MMS.
Telkomsel launches mobile money transfer service (Indonesia)
Telkomsel, Indonesia’s largest mobile service provider has launched a mobile money transfer service called T-Cash Kirim Uang (Telkomsel Cash Transfer), which allows customers to transfer money using their cell phones.
Subscribers need to register for prepaid e-wallet deposits, which function like bank accounts. It helps customer to transfer funds via SMS, which recipients can claim at customer service centers and thousands of branches of retailer Indomaret in Java, Bali and Lampung. All they need is the recipient of the transaction number to an authorized merchant to claim the money.
According to Ricardo Indra, Telkomsel’s corporate communications manager, the service is the first of its kind in the country. Company’s target market is the people who do not have bank accounts, especially in rural areas.
Mobitel Given time to abide by Mobile Banking Regulations
Mobitel, Cambodian mobile network operator, has been given time until February to ensure its mobile money service abiding by the Central Bank regulations.
The mobile network is required to search for a partner with a local bank to support the mobile money transfer service.
The Central Bank issued a ruling in August that it must oversee credit remittances – which includes the money transfer services provided by mobile networks.
The Cellcard Cash service was launched in September without Central Bank oversight after the network operator interpreted the regulations as not being applicable to its service.
At the time, the mobile network’s operations manager Kay Lot stated that the company did not consider mobile-money transfers to be banking.
The GSMA, which helped fund the service, was reported last month to have suspended grant payments, worth up to US$5 million, until the situation is resolved.
Western Union, MTN to launch Cross-Border Mobile Money Transfer Service (South Africa)
MTN and Western Union has announced a deal to introduce Cross-Border Mobile Money Transfer service in 21 countries.
The service will allow MTN subscribers to send and receive Western Union Money Transfer transactions using their MTN Mobile Money accounts. Additionally, Mobile Money users in certain countries will be able to transfer transactions directly from their mobile phones for payout at one of Western Union’s 386,000 Agent locations in 200 countries and territories around the world.
The service will first be introduced in Uganda, where MTN’s Mobile Money service already holds over 1 million registered users. According to the World Bank, Uganda receives nearly US$500 million in remittances every year, making up 3% of the country’s GDP.
The mobile money will not just help the users in transferring money but will also help them to use the funds to pay bills, top-up airtime, send money domestically and internationally, or withdraw cash at Mobile Money Agents or any participating ATM.
According to Khalid Fellahi, Western Union’s Head of Mobile Transaction Services, the Western Union Mobile Money Transfer service is a key part of the company’s multi-channel strategy to offer consumers numerous ways to send and receive money. This alliance with MTN – one of the world’s most successful mobile operators – will introduce cross-border remittances to an entirely new segment of customers by allowing them to send and receive money using just their mobile phones.
MTN’s Mobile Money service is currently available in Benin, Cameroon, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Rwanda, South Africa and Uganda, with pilots underway in several other markets.
Safaricom full year profit jumps 44% (Africa)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: A full year profit jump of 44% has been announced by Kenya’s largest mobile network operator by subscribers, Safaricom. The increase has been attributed to the rise in the revenue from data services including its mobile money transfer service MPESA.
The net income increased from KES10.5 billion a year earlier to KES15.15 billion (USD190 million) in the twelve months to March 31, 2010. 19% rise in the sales to KES83.96 billion has also been recorded.
Telkom Kenya, Zain and Essar Telecom Kenya are the main competitors of Safaricom in Africa, which is 40% owned by Vodafone. At the end of March it claimed 15.79 million customers.
BSNL to launch Mobile Banking in India
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Mobile Money Transfer Services is set to be launched by India’s state owned telco, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited in participation with SBI and YES Bank on electronic platform.
Money orders could be send by the mobile subscribers electronically through text messages (SMS) with the help of this innovative plan. For this, the customers are required to go to the nearest post office and transfer the money by SMS. The receiver can collect the money by showing the unique code contained in the SMS to the post office in his locality.
The service has already been test piloted in Chandigarh and it will soon be rolled out after Reserve Bank’s approval.
Western Union, GSMA to create mobile money transfer service
The GSM Association and money transfer services specialist The Western Union Company have announced an agreement to facilitate the development of cross-border mobile money transfer services. Western Union and the GSMA are developing a commercial and technical framework that mobile operators can use to deploy services that enable consumers to send and receive low-denomination, high frequency money transfers using mobile phones. The Western Union mobile service will connect operators to Western Union’s existing global money transfer system. Once connected to the Western Union service, operators will be able to use their own mobile wallet software to enable person-to-person mobile money transfers over Western Union’s cross-border remittance network. The Mobile Money Transfer service will enable consumers to transfer money to or from mobile wallets and will offer a global network of Western Union Agent locations for cash-to-mobile and mobile-to-cash transactions. Thirty-five GSMA operators are participating in the GSMA Mobile Money Transfer programme. The first commercial services that make use of the framework are anticipated to be rolled out in the second quarter of 2008.
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