MOBILE MONEY SERVICES DEVELOPMENT: THE CASE OF AFRICA

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Studia Ekonomiczne. Zeszyty Naukowe Uniwersytetu Ekonomicznego w Katowicach ISSN 2083-8611 Nr 356 · 2018 Współczesne Finanse 13

Krystyna Mitręga-Niestrój Blandyna Puszer

University of Economics in Katowice University of Economics in Katowice Faculty of Finance and Insurance Faculty of Finance and Insurance

Department of Banking and Financial Markets Department of Banking and Financial Markets krystyna.mitrega-niestroj@ue.katowice.pl blandyna.puszer@ue.katowice.pl

Łukasz Szewczyk

University of Economics in Katowice Faculty of Finance and Insurance

Department of Banking and Financial Markets lukasz.szewczyk@ue.katowice.pl

MOBILE MONEY SERVICES DEVELOPMENT:

THE CASE OF AFRICA

Summary: The aim of this study is to assess mobile money services market deve- lopments in Africa in recent years in comparison to other parts of the world, with particular reference to mobile payments. The empirical research question is to find out what is the state of development of the mobile money services, especially mobile payments, in Africa compared to other regions of the world. Nowadays, the mobile money services, including mobile payments, are developing very fast in Africa, comparing not only to other developing countries but also developed ones. The potential of mobile money services to bring access to financial services is observed in the developing world. The key findings show that in Africa the growing number of mobile money services, including mobile payments, can be seen. It is important to say that Africa is in the centre of high development in the area of mobile payments, due to numerous reasons, e.g. the growing use of mobile phones. Africa is the leader in mobile money, which has become an important element of Africa’s everyday life. Furthermore, mobile money services can become the driving force for growth of the domestic economies. There are still very diverse situations between African countries and the local markets vary widely, therefo- re, it is hard to obtain more specific data concerning to mobile payments problem. The paper is based on both literature studies and analysis of statistical data concerning the key aspects of the problem covered by the study.

Keywords: mobile payments, mobile money, African states, developing countries.

JEL Classification: E42, O33, Q55.

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Introduction

Mobile money services are becoming very important tool, especially in the developing countries, for people (usually low income households) that do not have a broad access to financial services [African Development Bank, 2013, p. 8]. Mobile payments play a vital role in financial inclusion. R. Cull, T. Ehr- beck and N. Holle [2014] state that both, global and national-level policy makers have been embracing financial inclusion as an important development priority.

Over the last few years, the growth in mobile money services can be seen all over the world. In some regions the growth is very significant. Among those regions is Africa, which is in the midst of high development in the mobile payments area. The African continent faces challenges in the area of financial technology, which is connected with the fact, that about 80% of adult people in Af- rica don’t have an access to banking services and the majority of the continent is still unbanked [McDermott, 2016, p. 34]. On the other side, there is an increasing need for financial products, which is the result of the growth of African economies. This need can be seen for example in terms of creating infrastructure and services for the people, who have never entered a bank [www 1].

Mobile money services play a prominent role in integrating low-income and unbanked households into wider financial system, especially by providing access to such services as credit, deposit and fund transfer capabilities [International Growth Center, 2016, p. 1].

The aim of this study is to assess mobile money services market develop- ments in Africa in recent years in comparison to other parts of the world, with particular reference to mobile payments. The empirical research question is to find out what is the state of development of the mobile money services, especially mobile payments, in Africa compared to other regions of the world. As the research method, the descriptive and comparative analysis is used.

1. Literature review

The definition of mobile money varies across the communication industry as it covers a wide scope of overlapping applications. In general, mobile money is defined as “service in which the mobile phone is used to access financial services” [GSM Association, 2010, p. 3]. There are three major mobile money services:

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Krystyna Mitręga-Niestrój, Blandyna Puszer, Łukasz Szewczyk 80

1. “Mobile banking, which is only one type of mobile money service: it allows customers of a financial institution to access their money, only available to people who possess a formal bank account.

2. Mobile payment – (also known as »m-payments«) is a service allowing unbanked people to purchase or sell goods and services at a merchant shop/store (or remotely) using their mobile wallet through their mobile phone, instead of cash.

3. Mobile transfer – (also known as money transfer »person-to-person« – »P2P«

– or »mobile remittances«) it is a service that allows unbanked people to send or receive small sums of money to/from any other mobile phone user (even if they are subscribed to different telephone service providers) across the country, from urban to remote rural areas, and across international borders. In practical terms, the customer must first deposit cash into his mobile wallet.

Then, on the phone menu, the customer selects the option »send money«, and enters the recipient’s phone number, the amount he wishes to send and his 6-digit security PIN. The sender can confirm that all the information entered is correct. The receiver will get a text message that he can show to a local mobile company agent to receive the money in cash” [ACP Observatory on Migration, 2014, p. 6-8].

It should be underlined that currently, there is no standard definition of the above terms. Mobile payments are payments for goods and services with a mobile device by taking advantage of wireless communication. A mobile payment service comprises of all technologies that are offered to the user, as well as all tasks that the service provider perform to commit the transaction [Dahlberg et al., 2008, p. 2]. The Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems [2013]

defines mobile payments as payments initiated and transmitted by access devices that are connected to mobile communication networks. Transaction values are small in amount and serve the purpose of purchasing goods or services at the point of sale, or remitting funds. Money originates from two major sources, including customer funds, located at banks in the form of a deposit account or credit account (including prepaid cards), or customer “stored-value funds” main- tained by mobile network operators [Khiaonarong, 2014, p. 6]. Mobile payment may include a few potential parties (Fig. 1).

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Mobile payment solutions development should include careful analysis of benefits for the consumers. It is important to take into account that the development is heavily driven by technological understanding and technology limita- tions. T. Dahlberg and N. Mallat suggest that [2002, p. 652]:

– it is necessary to view payment solutions from customers’ point of view and not to concentrate only on technological issues,

– payment solutions must be built on unfulfilled identified costumers’ needs, – payment solutions based on new technologies must be adopted with educa-

tional means that will help to overcome a reluctance to adopt them,

– consumers must be able to understand what the payment solution is and what kind of benefits does it provide.

The fast adoption of mobile money systems in developing economies, which can be seen in recent years, reflects the benefits they can offer in countries where a large proportion of the population does not have an account at a financial institution or where underdeveloped financial infrastructure means that there is limited access to convenient and affordable financial services [Flood, West, Wheadon, 2013, p. 74]. Nowadays, the mobile money services, including mobile payments, are developing very fast in Africa, comparing not only to other developing countries but also developed ones.

2. Mobile money services in Africa in comparison to other regions of the world

Mobile technologies are changing economic and social life in developing countries, also in Africa, where many people are using mobile phones for a range of financial transactions, such as receiving and sending money transfers. Indeed, mobile money is already being used by banks and mobile network operators to provide millions of unbanked consumers a way to store and access money digi- tally. The limited information available suggests that for millions of consumers in developing countries, mobile money is transforming lives by providing access to financial services and the ability to pay and be paid electronically – some- times for the first time in their lives. Mobile money services, allow unbanked people to use their phones as a bank account: to deposit, withdraw and transfer money with their handset. People can also use mobile systems to pay utility bills and pay for goods in merchant shops. Mobile money is considered as a very convenient instrument in every-day life.

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It is important to note, that the net number of mobile money services is growing rapidly around the world (Table 2). The total net number of mobile financial services in the world increased by almost 40 times within a ten-year period 2006-2016.

Table 2. Net number of total mobile money servicesby region (2001-2016, end year) Region 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 Sub-Saharan

Africa 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 6 21 37 64 99 117 132 136 140

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Source: GSM Association [2017, p. 16], [www 2].

In its simple form, mobile money services allow consumers to use their mobile phone as a virtual wallet, storing “cash” which they can either spend with retailers, pay service providers, transfer to peers, or exchange for physical cash with a participating agent. Companies can also use the service to disburse bulk payments and salaries or receive payments from consumers. These services bear particular relevance to Africa, where mobile money has experienced rapid growth.

This is as a result of the continent’s rapid economic growth in general, combined with a large unbanked population in the region. For example, there are more mobile money accounts than bank accounts in countries such as Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. In essence, mobile money services can provide financial access to consumers without a bank account, and for companies, they can offer lower transactional costs and a scalable alternative to conventional banking services [Muya, 2015, p. 2]. Additionally, Africa has the world’s youngest populations − in around 40 African countries, over 50% the population is under 20 [www 3]. Young people are generally open to new ideas and innovative products.

Discussing the issues of mobile money it is worth paying attention to the number of agencies offering mobile money service. Table 3 and Figure 3 presents the cumulative number of agents transactional outlets that have been registered as at the end of the months indicated, Table 3 and Figure 4 – active agents outlets that have facilitated at least one transaction within the past 30 days of the indicated months.

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Table 3. The number of active agents and registered agents by region (2011-2016) RegionDecember 2011 June 2012 December 2012 June 2013 December 2013 June 2014 December 2014 June 2015 December 2015 June 2016 December 2016 Active agents East Asia and Pacific 122 487 139 226 143 275157 926161 710163 556165 666 211 921 231 954267 777296 494 Europe and Central Asia 98 945 101 344 105 596109 863114 422122 112130 476 133 825 137 108141 645148 223 Latin America and the Caribbean 5 438 7 598 11 02015 44418 92326 27928 935 33 609 45 40555 36366 186 Middle East and North Africa 1 510 4 175 4 6695 1827 88611 67013 264 16 728 22 86523 43027 427 South Asia 88 895 132 172 172 959274 838380 908494 924578 865 612 328 710 931773 581837 384 Sub-Saharan Africa 98 009 149 403 222 288268 548365 998438 289534 034 615 221 734 118807 974906 052 Eastern Africa 83 899 129 994 188 290222 061304 338346 816407 378 451 923 496 997527 886584 430 Middle Africa 348 708 2 0926 5459 69724 07036 559 43 136 66 10453 85764 625 Southern Africa 3 212 3 658 4 7195 3106 7929 51110 976 11 908 14 99217 56718 793 Western Africa 10 550 15 043 27 18734 63245 17157 89279 121 108 254 156 025208 664238 204 Global 415 284 533 918 659 807831 8011 049 8471 256 8301 451 240 1 623 632 1 882 3812 069 7702 281 766 Registered agents East Asia and Pacific 187 643 212 103 230 344249 884251 313263 643284 006 347 893 381 108419 642454 894 Europe and Central Asia 116 387 119 229 124 226129 246134 639143 612154 277 158 549 163 027168 533177 088 Latin America and the Caribbean 7 005 9 843 12 27441 33324 90342 66068 116 84 029 97 790113 203167 276 Middle East and North Africa 2 534 5 014 5 2956 01210 33920 21424 979 40 829 51 13568 66083 329 South Asia 178 483 248 584 330 177506 936731 4291 030 4711 273 845 1 436 393 1 588 6411 768 5101 879 888 Sub-Saharan Africa 178 299 255 815 383 708469 397651 704784 818949 843 1 072 161 1 239 5041 401 5601 569 510 Eastern Africa 136 858 195 792 273 519315 139437 178521 295599 696 659 228 703 277775 257861 015 Middle Africa 1 620 4 954 20 59334 29648 77680 715123 115 130 121 164 534159 397195 160 Southern Africa 12 045 13 303 15 28616 32918 403Re23 15630 457 36 036 42 80149 46641 505 Western Africa 27 776 41 766 74 310103 633147 347159 652196 575 246 776 328 892417 440471 830 Global 670 351 850 588 1 086 0241 402 8081 804 3272 285 4182 755 066 3 139 854 3 521 2053 940 1084 331 985 Source: GSM Association [2017], [www 2].

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such as a MNO or an issuer of stored-value cards [African Development Bank, 2013, p. 7].

In Africa, bank-led models are the most often applied in middle-income countries, for example South Africa. In these countries, the financial sectors are characterized by a variety of distribution channels, including traditional ATM branches, mini-ATMs, mobile phones and debit/credit cards, in partnerships with retail institutions and others [African Development Bank, 2013].

African low-income countries, which confronted with social and economic development challenges, are dominated by the non-bank-led model (MNO-led model). The success of the model is dependent on a large reliable network of agents and low risk management of electronic value for a cheaper but secured solution to financial exclusion in low-income African countries. By the end of 2016, there were over 930 000 active agents [African Development Bank, 2013, p. 11].

3. Mobile payments in Africa

Mobile payment is a service associated with the use of a mobile phone. Cel- lular technology spread rapidly in West Africa in the 2000s. The presence of private companies emerging on these markets in the 1990s contributed to this, following the deregulation of the telecommunications sector in most countries.

These operators, mainly new in the region, finance the modernization and ex- pansion of the infrastructure network. They are significantly increasing their quality and geographical coverage [African Development Bank, 2015, p. 17].

Mobile payments are already booming in the world. The total number of mobile payments users in the world increased by over 380 million in years 2009-2016 (Fig. 7).

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Table 4. The number of active accounts (90 days) and registered mobile money accounts by region, 2011-2016 Region December 2011 June 2012 December 2012 June 2013 December 2013 June 2014 December 2014 June 2015 December 2015 June 2016 December 2016 Active accounts (90 days) East Asia and Pacific 2 254 076 2 678 660 2 918 0232 196 4732 242 8182 571 1872 914 831 3 387 328 4 256 5116 221 5987 123 829 Europe and Central Asia 409 882 435 572 525 676602 593711 443799 742893 059 1 046 251 1 173 3781 251 4411 399 967 Latin America and the Caribbean 919 527 1 404 808 2 082 9042 808 7194 768 0425 772 6326 445 122 7 213 285 8 679 3749 010 59610 768 779 Middle East and North Africa 51 646 795 357 1 369 5291 561 0076 146 6817 903 9119 163 630 12 035 744 12 648 43413 479 86713 863 931 South Asia 1 358 139 3 172 544 5 357 8218 491 74012 977 23015 754 30019 714 834 23 030 850 30 373 20834 639 43240 367 741 Sub-Saharan Africa 17 925 656 23 311 834 29 689 18634 563 80142 484 58152 497 94163 187 920 73 619 303 85 783 57890 730 771100 058 018 Eastern Africa 16 183 360 20 875 655 25 492 33528 224 72933 730 81839 687 30945 196 754 50 495 607 57 438 11459 352 29264 284 167 Middle Africa 13 981 59 512 238 047643 3321 045 6212 184 2103 971 316 4 632 107 5 131 7634 042 5615 085 448 Southern Africa 238 895 299 286 438 180849 521975 9731 154 4061 294 191 1 537 922 1 743 8631 975 4352 109 644 Western Africa 1 489 420 2 077 381 3 520 6244 846 2196 732 1699 472 01612 725 659 16 953 667 21 469 83825 360 48328 578 759 Global 22 918 926 31 798 775 41 943 13950 224 33369 330 79585 299 713102 319 396 120 332 761 142 914 483155 333 705173 582 265 Registered accounts East Asia and Pacific 17 199 257 19 120 579 20 793 13317 838 72016 545 97918 497 84120 380 890 22 873 837 27 190 56032 341 14136 554 635 Europe and Central Asia 5 633 009 5 841 206 7 167 5217 696 9388 220 6488 596 7549 085 826 9 723 034 10 423 6919 824 82710 424 941 Latin America and the Caribbean 1 946 650 3 177 904 4 449 2306 678 0899 796 84512 913 12613 379 742 14 526 429 16 949 06318 619 51922 951 118 Middle East and North Africa 2 670 622 5 479 252 33 834 59034 162 13535 667 66836 578 73738 011 140 39 011 063 40 352 51942 094 28244 110 373 South Asia 6 508 917 11 705 213 19 060 74728 870 23642 162 06153 698 97767 273 496 87 741 187 122 068 946138 717 017164 159 406 Sub-Saharan Africa 52 862 515 65 164 483 79 848 70597 276 619119 219 518142 545 255172 061 698 200 473 848 234 071 735260 528 300277 389 045 Eastern Africa 42 218 701 52 317 055 61 822 42171 535 30185 801 72398 561 436108 825 104 117 147 311 131 116 084147 852 372157 902 516 Middle Africa 142 126 610 569 2 566 2494 860 9317 248 7689 778 19415 187 855 18 613 624 20 713 63220 151 58922 373 264 Southern Africa 1 297 574 1 554 190 1 921 7392 903 1004 166 8075 619 6617 230 422 8 976 011 10 281 95210 683 1815 462 725 Western Africa 9 204 114 10 682 669 13 538 29617 977 28722 002 22028 585 96440 818 317 55 736 902 71 960 06781 841 15891 650 540 Global 86 820 970 110 488 637 165 153 926192 522 737231 612 719272 830 690320 192 792 374 349 398 451 056 514502 125 086555 589 518 Source: GSM Association [2017], [www 2].

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An important factor for mobile money services development is Internet pene- tration, which is certainly lower in Africa but the trend is upward and depends on the country. When assessing the mobile payments market, it is worth paying attention to the fact, that South Africa is one of the largest economies in the region, and second only to Nigeria. In South Africa, the use of the Internet is higher than 60%, and almost half of the population owns a smartphone. Blackberry currently has the largest market share at the level of 36%, while the sale of Android phones points to the fact that it can become the main operating system. In addition, the SnapScan mobile payment application has started operating in South Africa, enabling consumers to pay for parking, groceries and even donations to the church or to the homeless via a mobile phone. The South African bank FNB reports that its clients make 230 million mobile transaction transactions per month compared to 45 million on the popu- lar M-Pesa platform in Kenya. Kenya is another country with an increasing number of mobile connections and the most important trend in Kenya is the use of mobile money [McDermott, 2016, p. 35].

Since the second half of the 2000s, the growth of the mobile telephone network prompted mobile operators to develop additional mobile services, including mobile payments. In Africa the main operators, who participated in its im- plementation, are multinational telecommunications companies, including the South African MTN, the French Orange, the Indian Airtel, the English Vodafone and the Emirati Etisalat, which includes the West African subsidiaries of Mo- rocco, Telecom acquired by Etisalat in 2014. Alongside these large multinational groups, there are other regional players on the market, for example the Nigerian Globacom, Inova in Burkina Faso, Celpaid in Côte d’Ivoire and Ferlo in Senegal [African Development Bank, 2015, p. 18]. Table 5 presents examples of the main mobile payment operators on selected African countries.

Table 5. The main mobile payment operators on the West African Market

Nigeria Cote d’Ivoire Togo Benin

1 2 3 4

Glo xchange (Glo) Airtel Money (Airtel) EasyWallet (Etisalat) MTN Mobile Money Wari

Orange Money MTN Mobile Money Flooz (Etilasat) QashServices Celpaid Wari

Flooz (Etilasat) Wari Togocell

Flooz (Etilasat) MTN Mobile Money ASMAB (IMF)

Guinea-Bissau Senegal Burkina Faso Niger

MTN Mobile Money Orange Money Wari

Orange Money Yoban’tel TigoCash MobileCash Wari

Airtel Money (Airtel Inovapay

Mobicash (Etilasat) Wari

AirtelMoney Flooz Orange Money Wari

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Table 5 cont.

1 2 3 4

Sierra Leone Ghana Mali Guinea

Airtel Splash Africell

MTN Money Airtel Money Tigo Cash Wari

Orange Money Mobicah (Etilasat) Wari

Orange Money Wari

Source: African Development Bank [2015, p. 18].

MNOs offer mobile payments as part of their mobile services, Table 6 shows mobile money services organized in mobile payments.

Table 6. Types of different money payments services and platforms available in the East African Community

Category Service Platform offering service

M-payments Buy airtime (on-network) All mobile money platforms Pay post-paid phone bills All mobile money platforms Educational institutions (school fees) M-Pesa (Lipa Karo)

MTN Mobile Money Uganda Financial institutions (loan repayments) M-PESA Kenya

Health service providers (charges) M-PESA Kenya Utility providers (monthly bills for

electricity, water, sewage, Pay TV)

All mobile money platforms

Hotels (services) M-PESA Kenya

Churches and NGOs (contributions) M-PESA Kenya M-PESA The United Republic of Tanzania

MTN MobileMoney Uganda Businesses (customer to business,

i.e. payments)

M-PESA Kenya (Nunua na M-PESA) MTN MobileMoney Uganda Airtel Money across EAC Bulk payments (business to customer,

i.e. salaries)

M-PESA Kenya

M-PESA The United Republic of Tanzania

MTN MobileMoney Uganda MTN MobileMoney Rwanda Mobile ticketing (buy tickets

for events, hotels, airlines etc.)

M-ESA Kenya

Source: UNCTAD [2012, p. 6].

MNOs started by targeting entities that receive recurring payments from various clients, such as energy companies (e.g. power, water, sewerage, pay TV) and those that make wholesale payments (e.g. salaries and school fees).

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Many of these services have been launched as free promotional offers to help build a business and prove its utility to the consumer. “For example, Safari- com clearly states that “it is currently FREE to pay a bill using M-PESA. Please note that this is an initial offer valid only for a limited period” for the Nunua service on M-PESA” [UNCTAD, 2012, p. 7]. Some service providers stated that they can eliminate the costs for their customers who pay premiums for mobile money, because they provide them with a cheaper way to regularly collect fees from customers. “For example, the National Water and Sewerage Company in Uganda has scrapped all its cash collection centers and resorted to using banks and mobile money as the only means of repaying” [UNCTAD, 2012, p. 7]. MNOs also began to cultivate buyers for mobile payments, mainly for large entities with many branches, such as supermarkets (for example M-PESA cooperates with supermarket chains Uchumi and Naivas in Kenya, and MTN MobileMoney cooperates with supermarkets Uchumi in Uganda) [UNCTAD, 2012, p. 7].

It is worth emphasizing that sectors such as education, health, tourism and insurance, are gradually “waking up” to the opportunities of using mobile money as another payment channel for their customers.

Conclusions

Mobile money services market has flourished on African continent in recent years in comparison to other parts of the world (taking under consideration among others number of: total mobile money services, mobile money accounts, agents offering mobile money service and mobile payment users). It can be seen that Africa is at the forefront of the mobile banking revolution, spearheaded by the mobile phone technological platform for financial services. Furthermore, the number of mobile Internet subscribers is rising in Africa. Africa seems to become the worldwide leader in mobile money services. The Africans have will- ingness and ability to absorb innovations in the area of mobile money services.

Mobile money services in African countries started to transform the domestic markets.

African mobile money services are based rather on non-bank-led model which is typical for lower-income developing countries. It can’t be forgotten that properly functioning mobile money services require a supportive ecosystem, with a number of players and infrastructure. Among them are mobile network operators, which provide the technological infrastructure and offer ‘mobile products’ which are tailored-made for customers needs in Africa. Additionally,

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MNOs ensure security of transactions and distribution. They are especially important in low-income countries, where the banking sector is not sufficiently developed.

Young societies of growing African economies are marked by high demand for financial services. There are many factors, however, which cause the high number of unbanked people reluctant to use traditional financial services deliv- ered by banking institutions. Mobile money services development (such as for example mobile payments), can create opportunity to “switch over” to new and innovative financial services excluding “traditional” path of its evolution.

Against this background, the question arises whether or how this will influence the activities of banking sector in Africa. Or it will contribute to further vast development of Fintech industry on African continent.

References

ACP Observatory on Migration (2014), Mobile Money Services: A Bank in Your Pocket.

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African Development Bank (2015), West Africa Monitor Quarterly, April, Iss. 6.

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ROZWÓJ USŁUG PIENIĄDZA MOBILNEGO: PRZYPADEK AFRYKI Streszczenie: Celem artykułu jest ocena rozwoju rynku usług pieniądza mobilnego w Afryce w ostatnich latach w porównaniu z innymi częściami świata, ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem płatności mobilnych. Głównym pytaniem badawczym jest ustalenie, jaki jest stan rozwoju mobilnych usług finansowych, zwłaszcza płatności mobilnych, w Afryce w porównaniu z innymi regionami świata. Obecnie usługi mobilnego pieniądza, w tym płatności mobilnych, rozwijają się w Afryce bardzo szybko, w porów- naniu nie tylko z innymi krajami rozwijającymi się, ale również rozwiniętymi. Pieniądz mobilny ma bardzo duży potencjał w obszarze zapewnienia dostępu do usług finansowych w krajach rozwijających się. Kluczowe wnioski wskazują, że w Afryce można zaobserwować rosnącą liczbę usług związanych z mobilnym pieniądzem, w tym płat- ności mobilnych. Należy podkreślić, że kontynent afrykański jest współcześnie „centrum rozwoju” płatności mobilnych, z wielu powodów, m.in. rosnącej liczby użytkowników telefonów komórkowych. Usługi pieniądza mobilnego, stały się ważnym elementem codziennego życia w Afrykańczyków. Co więcej, usługi mobilnego pieniądza mogą stać się siłą napędową wzrostu krajowych gospodarek. Nadal występują wyraźne różnice w rozwoju usług mobile money między państwami afrykańskimi i wciąż trudno jest uzyskać bardziej szczegółowe dane dotyczące tego rynku. Artykuł opiera się zarówno na badaniach literaturowych, jak i na analizie danych statystycznych dotyczących kluc- zowych aspektów problemu objętego badaniem.

Słowa kluczowe: płatności mobilne, pieniądz mobilny, państwa afrykańskie, kraje rozwijające się.