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Telecoms operators insist on interoperability to unlock mobile money

By BusinessNews Staff on November 15, 2013

African telecoms operators attending the on-going AfricaCom conference in South Africa have insisted that network interoperability among telecoms operators on one hand, and interoperability between banks, merchants and customers, on the other hand, is key to drive mobile money in African countries.

They argued at one of the breakout sessions that unless the issue of interoperability was addressed, African countries might not go far in driving the mobile money initiative, which had already been launched in most African countries, Nigeria inclusive.

Senior Manager, Network Rollout at Etisalat Nigeria, Mr. Valentine Amadi, who represented Nigeria at a panel discussion during one of the breakout sessions, said interoperability was key to mobile money growth in Africa, since the mobile wallet is linked to the network operators and the issue of transferring money from the customer to the recipient, through authorised agents, largely depend on the network of choice.

Director of Orange Money in Botswana, Mr. Moussa Dao, who was also at the panel session, said interoperability should not be an issue, and that customers should be allowed to choose any network of choice. “Interoperability should not be an issue if we must achieve financial inclusion,” he said.

Head of Strategic Partnerships, Tyme Capital in South Africa, Dominique Collet, said interoperability would unlock the future needs of mobile money in Africa and at the same time, drive mobile money transactions.
He stressed the need to educate the customers, and that training of customers and merchants is very important in attaining financial inclusion across Africa.

Speaking on different regulatory policies that are driving mobile money in Africa, Amadi said most African countries adopted the Telcos-led model, where telecoms operators are allowed to drive the entire process, but expressed regret that in Nigeria and some African countries, the bank-led model was adopted, which he said, would continue to drag growth and development in the sector.

According to him, telecoms operators have the network and the biggest customer base to drive mobile money in Africa than the banks.
“Telecoms operators are closer to the people with more customer base, while the bank are better off in designing financial products that will drive mobile money,” Amadi said.

According to him, “The banks are only marketing to those that have bank accounts but the telecoms operators are better positioned to address the unbanked, since they have the reach and the technology,”
He explained that the unbanked constituted a large chunk of the African population and must be addressed as such.
He however said for Africa to achieve fast financial inclusion through mobile money, the services of telecoms operators needed to improve. “It is not the fear of going to the bank or meeting the agents, that will slow the growth rate of mobile money in Africa, but the speed of the agents’ network and the telecoms network in sending money.”

Amadi also called for better remuneration of agents as an important factor that would drive mobile money in Africa.

In his presentation, Sales Director in charge of Russia, Middle East and Africa at MoreMagic Solutions, Mr. Deepak Sachdeva, said: “Lack of open system is hindering growth of mobile money in Africa. Operators and merchants need to open the market and come up with innovations that will be relevant to subscribers and enable them patronise any network of choice.”

[This Day]

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