The GSMA is providing grants to operators in order to accelerate mobile money deployments around the world. Today, we are able to announce the first four of these operators who will receive grants; these are AXIS in Indonesia, Oi Paggo in Brazil, Roshan in Afghanistan and SMART Communications in the Philippines.
The AXIS mDUIT project is a greenfield deployment in Indonesia and is due to launch in December. AXIS has a significant opportunity to bank the unbanked via mobile in Indonesia as only 40 million of the country’s total population have bank accounts, whereas 90 million have mobile phone subscriptions. AXIS will offer a range of services to consumers via mobile, including payments, savings and credit.
In the proposed service, Brazilian operator Oi intends to provide individuals living in poor and remote communities access to basic banking services, encouraging development. The proposed service will allow individuals to receive welfare funds, make domestic remittances and buy products at participating merchants’ stores. A cash-out option is also being considered.
Building a distribution network that has the ability to grow and manage customers in a country at war is the main focus of Afghanistan operator Roshan. Currently 97% of Afghans are unable to access traditional banking services as 76% of Afghans reside outside major urban centres. M-Paisa will provide mobile money services to rural entrepreneurs, women, public and private institutions, and those in extreme poverty.
SMART Communications’ Island Activations Program in the Philippines, will benefit those on remote islands or inland locations who are isolated, have no or limited access to financial services and limited electricity. SMART aims to build remote economies through reaching the underbanked and unbanked and so enabling customers to send and receive domestic remittances, re-load e-wallets, pay bills or send money via the SMART Money Platform.
These are four of the eight projects that have been approved for funding to date. The others will be announced in due course. There is still time for operators to apply for a grant – either by contacting me [email protected] or emailing [email protected].