Financial Sector Development in Africa: Opportunities ... - World Bank

72 Porteous
a channel to a bank account) and mobile payments (where mobile is used to
effect payment, whether or not a bank or bank account is involved)—see AFI
(2010).
3. 4G technology has also been deployed in Africa: in April 2010, Kenya’s
Safaricom announced plans to begin testing a 4G network in late 2010: see
http://www.nation.co.ke/business/news/Kenyas%20Safaricom%20says%20
to%20test%204G%20later%20in%202010/-/1006/890190/-/j9u85pz/-/
index.html.
4. See http://www.wirelessintelligence.com/mobile-money, accessed August 20,
2010.
5. For more information, see FinAccess Kenya report 2009, available at http://
www.fsdkenya.org/finaccess/documents/09-06-10_FinAccess_FA09
_Report.pdf.
6. A recent cross-country survey in 18 African countries conducted by Gallup
(Marlar 2010) showed that the percentage of adults with a bank account
ranged from 1 percent in Niger to 49 percent in South Africa, although it was
below 20 percent in 13 countries—this second figure is within the range that
Honohan and Beck (2007) estimated for low-income countries. This is almost
certainly lower than the percentage of people who have mobile subscriptions
in these countries.
7. The lessons learned by MTN and Wizzit Banking have, however, been invaluable
for informing rollouts elsewhere on the continent—whether by the
MTN Group, by those using Wizzit technology, or by unconnected firms that
have benefited by observing the experience of these early movers.
8. Ten of the 73 mobile money deployments list Fundamo as a technology
partner. Note that the disproportionate influence on payment innovation
extends to other niches too. South Africa–based Net1 is a leading proponent
of smartcard-based payment systems, while South Africa–developed switching
solutions such as Postilion are widely deployed in financial institutions
worldwide.
9. In early South African deployments, this was apparently not the case, and
MNOs shared keys with particular banks.
10. By comparison, the ratio in Europe and the Americas with an established
fixed line infrastructure is more like 1:1.
11. As a promotion, Kenyan MNO Safaricom offered mobile data subscribers free
access to Facebook for one weekend in September 2010. Clearly this type of
social network has pulling power for potential clients.
12. PayPal announced its first deal with an African bank (First National Bank) in
March 2010, enabling members in Africa to withdraw funds via the local
bank. See FNB 2010.