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“Mobile money is now achieving mass-market adoption in all corners of Sub-Saharan Africa, enabling millions of people to access financial services for the first time and contributing to economic growth and social development,” said Mats Granryd, Director General of the GSMA. “Mobile operators in the region today are using mobile money to create new financial ecosystems that can deliver a range of innovative new services across multiple industry sectors, including utilities and agriculture.”
The latest data highlights how the mobile money market in the region has evolved from primarily being used to top-up airtime and make person-to-person (P2P) transfers to becoming a platform that enables additional financial services, including bill payments, merchant payments and international remittances. The volume of these new types of ‘ecosystem payments’ almost quadrupled between 2014 and 2016 and now accounts for about 17 per cent of all mobile money transactions, driven by a significant rise in the number of mobile-based bill payments.
There were 277 million registered mobile money accounts across Sub-Saharan Africa at the end of 2016, plus 1.5 million registered agents. Mobile money users have historically been concentrated in East Africa, home to major mobile money markets such as Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. However, the latest data suggests that user growth is now being driven by other markets in the region, notably West Africa. Almost 29 per cent of active mobile money accounts in Sub-Saharan Africa are now based in West Africa, compared to just 8 per cent five years earlier.
To download the latest ‘State of Mobile Money in Sub-Saharan Africa’ presentation, please visit: https://www.gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment/type/resource/2016-state-mobile-money-sub-saharan-africa
Mobile 360 – Africa
The 2017 GSMA Mobile 360 Series – Africa is the third in a series of eight industry-focused events held in major cities across the world. For information on Mobile 360 – Africa, please visit www.mobile360series.com/africa. Follow developments and updates on Mobile 360 – Africa (#m360Africa) on Twitter @GSMA, on Facebook www.facebook.com/Mobile360Series and LinkedIn on www.linkedin.com/company/gsma-mobile-360-series.
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About the GSMA
The GSMA represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide, uniting nearly 800 operators with more than 300 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, including handset and device makers, software companies, equipment providers and internet companies, as well as organisations in adjacent industry sectors. The GSMA also produces industry-leading events such as Mobile World Congress, Mobile World Congress Shanghai, Mobile World Congress Americas and the Mobile 360 Series of conferences.
For more information, please visit the GSMA corporate website at www.gsma.com. Follow the GSMA on Twitter: @GSMA.