Strategy and management consulting in Telecom and Media

Mobile Money

Mobile phones have transformed everyday life and their recent success in emerging markets have brought many social and economic benefits to populations.

In countries where cash is king and banking penetration rates are very low, basic services such as sending money to relatives or paying utility bills is often a nightmare. Leveraging the existing gap between high and growing mobile penetration and a low access to basic financial services, mobile operators have an opportunity to bring new value for emerging markets mobile customers trough mobile money services.

Those services based on a mobile wallet cover a lot of needs:

  • Money transfer: domestic mobile money transfers between peers, international remittance, disbursement of funds
     
  • Payment: mobile payment for goods and services at merchants, utility bill payment, mobile airtime top up
     
  • Mobile banking: account management, balance enquiry
     

Recent success stories like Safaricom in Kenya or Smart Money in the Philippines have prompted many regional players to enter this new market. According to the GSMA, there have been more than 100 mobile money services launches to date(1):

Mobile Money services offer sizable value generation opportunities to mobile operators in emerging countries, including :

  • Direct revenue generation (service fee) with a potential of ARPU increase between 5 and 10%;
     
  • Indirect revenue generation; on markets where users are equipped with multiple SIM cards, the SIM that hosts a Mobile Money application will be more likely to be used for voice and SMS usage.
     
  • EBITDA optimization; airtime top up functionalities offered as part of a Mobile Money proposition will allow reducing costs of sale.
     

The resulting profit uplift can be significant, especially when looking at the often small and declining ARPU that emerging markets tend to have.

Greenwich Consulting is the Mobile Money preferred consulting partner of the GSMA and has worked with several leading emerging markets mobile operators and technology providers from the entry strategy to the marketing implementation and roll out (more than 15 countries).

(1): Agence Française pour le développement, "bancarisation de masse en Algérie, Opportunités et défis"