A high level analysis of Mobile Payment Services.
Latest posts by AshishT (see all)
- Mobile Payment Value Chain and Business Models - March 25, 2007
- What operators want: Partnering with Network Service Providers – Part2 - October 10, 2006
- What operators want: Partnering with Network Service Providers –Part1 - October 5, 2006
Hi
I have a question on regulations/guidelines starting a new mobile payments company.Should I approach RBI for that?ANy pointers will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Hello, interesting comments about m-banking possibilities. I work w/BOP (Base of Pyramid) businesses & have seen some working solutions…& a few failures. Ashish, ‘Not much in it for end customers’ ? – need to define ‘end customers.’ There are millions of people in rural communities in developing countries that can benefit from m-transactions (remittance transfers, payments, etc.) A few examples that I believe are very intriquing models to pursue :
– Philippines (considered birth of Mbanking) : SMS savvy culture, well-supports the ‘Smart Money’ system allowing transfers from bank account to SmartMoney accnt- a re-loadable electronic wallet. ‘SmartLoad’ – electronic airtime transfer, subscribers can buy prepaid packages from resellers(no physical card!) Many of these local resellers offer customers credit to buy the telco packages – microfinance at it’s core. Then there is the well know example of G-cash, users don’t need a bank accnt – a customer advantage compared to many other offerings. Most importantly G-cash supports microlending -helping Rural Bankers Assoc for customer loan repayments. Very useful indeed for end customers.
-Africa: Wizzit -sprouted up recently, allows customers to make p-to-p payments & transfer money, among other services. More info:
http://www.parismfn.org/parismfn/mobilebankingsouthafrica.html
M-Pesa’s prgram w/Faulu microfinance allows customers to mk deposits, transfers & withdrawals(-from microloan disbursement, for example).
-Bangladesh: Grameen Phone’s VillagePhone program is a good example of end user benefits, working w/BRAC, subscribers can check loan balances, amongst other services – more under development. GP’s mid-market customers are targetd with the new CellBazaar service – no payment feature (yet) but great model for telco fees.
-India: Pitroda’s ‘Exchange wallet’ from ’05 -a great example of convenient apps w/cell-to-cell remittances. (http://www.livescience.com/technology/ap_050620_cell_wallet.html) more on the horizon from them….
Although India adds about 5mil subscribers/month – keep your eye on Africa which is currently the fastest growing mobile region globally. There will be many races for profitable, working technology solutions to reach the rural poor- xfers, payments & remittances will surely be in the lead. If you know of other successful BOP examples, please share. thank you, Carol
Hi,
I am providing the list of mobile payment companies in India.
1) Paymate ( http://www.paymate.co.in)
2) NGPAY ( http://www.ngpay.com)
3) Mchek ( http//www.mchek.com )
4) ITZCASH ( http://www.itzcash.com )
5) Obopay ( https://www.obopay.com)
6) NXTPAY ( http://www.nxtpay.com )
Now i assume that it will be be around 2 years from now fro mobile payments to gain user acceptance . Anyway the one who acquires the maximum customers by this time will become the king and rest of them would be prospective aquistion targets for mastercard/Vis or a paypal or a bank or even online companies like yahoo or google!
Krish, Good points and I agree, but lets not assume that M-payment is just about credit card like transactions. I do think mobile banking has some potential..
Sanjay: “A prepaid charge as a tradable currency” – Why?
There are much simpler solutions out there for re-filling ones prepaid account…
Ashish,
You had almost lost me on your PPP, but now you have me thro your last post which is excellent. But your conclusion *I do see an opportunity to sell services to a small, technology savvy affluent crowd, but its not for “aam janta* – isn’t quite up.
Don’t you think the small, tech savvy affluent crowd are so because they are inherently smart ? They use a credit card, pay the full dues near the due date ( enjoy free credit and manage their budget efficiently that way ) without interest on lifetime free cards. They get fantastic credit rating and their mail box is choked with pre-approved low cost loans and other goodies everyday. Do you think they would trade all these freebies in for high cost, risky, cumbersome Mobile payments which has none of these ? Would carriers ever offer Mobile transactions free for lifetime ? I clearly don’t see an urban alpha taking to M-payments seriously so long as free of interest credit cards are around – it will have to seek opportunities elsewhere.