Mobile money

Bottlenecks for mobile-money adoption

This paper aims at investigating the driving factors for mobile money adoption in the WAEMU region. It identifies literacy rate, mobile infrastructure, and banking infrastructure (ATMs\100,000 people) as the main macroeconomic determinants for adoption.

E-money, Financial Inclusion and Mobile Money Tax in Sub-Saharan African Mobile Networks

The paper studies the incidence of new mobile money excise duties on the adoption of electronic money.

Decade Edition of the State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money

The report charts the story of mobile money covering a decade of progress, industry lessons,impact and the future of the industry.

Mobile money enabled cash assistance: User journeys in Burundi

This report understands the lived experiences of Concern Burundi’s CVA recipients who are receiving mobile money-enable humanitarian aid.

The Impact of Mobile Money on Poor Rural Households : Experimental Evidence from Uganda

Does access to mobile money help improve livelihood in remote settings? This paper shows that rolling out mobile money agents in Northern Uganda led to cost-savings for remittance transactions. It also shows that access to digital payments doubled the nonfarm self-employment rate and reduced the fraction of households with very low food security. 

Mobile money increasing healthcare access

The article highlights that although health insurance coverage is still low in many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, mobile money use have increased access to it.

The long-run poverty and gender impacts of mobile money

The report studies the adoption of Mobile money in Kenya and highlights how Mobile money has resulted in reduction of poverty in Kenya.

What does mobile money usage look like in Rwanda and Ghana?

This report discusses significant data points from the Financial Inclusion Insights Surveys in Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Ghana.

Distribution 2.0: The future of mobile money agent distribution networks

In December 2017, there were over 2.9 million active agents and 690 million registered customer accounts worldwide. Primarily responsible for registering customer accounts, mobile money agen…

2017 State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money

The mobile money industry is now processing a billion dollars a day and generating direct revenues of over $2.4 billion. With 690 million registered accounts worldwide, mobile money has evol…

Mobile Money and the importance of timely, complete payments to frontline health campaign workers in the fight to eradicate polio: pilot experience from a WHO digital payment platform in Africa

Lessons on taxing mobile money transactions

This Brookings policy paper, by Prof. Njuguna Ndung'u, argues that instead of increasing the tax base, taxation on mobile phone transactions may end up reversing the adoption of digital payments in Kenya. It says these lessons are also relevant for other African countries considering similar taxes.

Small-scale Kenyan farmers use mobile money to turn remittances into farm profits

A study has found that Kenyan farmers who use mobile money have 35% higher profits per acre of banana production than non-users. Mobile money also increased household income by 40% and contr…

The long-run poverty and gender impacts of mobile money (Science)

This article shows how the increased access to mobile money has increased long term consumption in Kenya and reduced the number of households in extreme poverty.

Bringing E-money to the Poor: Successes and Failures

This report examines the successful lessons from Kenya, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and Thailand case studies of “gazelles", that leapt from limitation to innovation by successfully enabling the deployment of e-money technology.

Mobile banking: A potential catalyst for financial inclusion and growth in Pakistan

This paper traces the history of mobile banking in Pakistan, studies various models of mobile banking and assesses its current state.

Mobile payments: How digital finance is transforming agriculture

This report is based on primary research on agriculture mobile payments initiatives in Ghana, Uganda and Zambia with the aim of understanding the potential of mobile finance for the agricultural sector and how these barriers might be overcome.

Mobile for Development Utilities Annual Report

What are the key barriers to success in the mobile phone-enabled utility space? In this report, GSMA shares key trends and insights from its work with more than 40 organizations operating primarily in our member countries in Africa and Asia.

The digital lives of refugees and Kenyans with disabilities in Nairobi: A human-centred design approach to identifying mobile-enabled opportunities

This research focuses on disability, using human-centred design methods to better understand how refugees and Kenyans with visual and hearing impairments in Nairobi use mobile technology and potential opportunities that it could provide.

Mobile-delivered economic ID for inclusion of SMEs

Unregistered SMEs account for 65% of Nigeria’s GDP. Most of them often struggle to demonstrate their personal and business credentials to service providers and customers. This GSMA research finds that there is a need for new approaches to identity and mobile-delivered ‘economic ID’ solution holds promise.