Kenyans to buy air, bus tickets through M-pesa

Telecoms operator Safaricom has integrated its M-Pesa money transfer service and data platform to enable users book and pay for their domestic air, road and rail travel through their data-enabled mobile phones. Kenya's Daily Nation reports.

The company has signed partnerships with local airlines — East African, Air Kenya and Aircraft Leasing Services (ALS), the Rift Valley Railways and bus companies such as Akamba, Crown bus and Busways to offer this service.

Related articles on M-Pesa permalink (October 22nd, 2009)

The power of mobile money

Mobile phones have transformed lives in the poor world. Mobile money could have just as big an impact. A summary of mobile payment options by the Economist.

Across the developing world, corner shops are where people buy vouchers to top up their calling credit. Mobile-money services allow these small retailers to act rather like bank branches. They can take your cash, and (by sending a special kind of text message) credit it to your mobile-money account. You can then transfer money (again, via text message) to other registered users, who can withdraw it by visiting their own local corner shops. You can even send money to people who are not registered users; they receive a text message with a code that can be redeemed for cash. By far the most successful example of mobile money is M-PESA, launched in 2007 by Safaricom of Kenya. It now has nearly 7m users—not bad for a country of 38m people, 18.3m of whom have mobile phones.

Read full article. permalink (September 25th, 2009)

Solar Power, Mobile Phones Converge to Distribute Water in Kenya

The New York Times on how solar power and cell phone converge to distribute water in Kenya.

On the heels of complaints about corrupt distributors and conflicts over the fair allocation of water, a community in Musingini, Kenya, is working with Safaricom and Grundfos Lifelink, a division of the Danish pump maker Grundfos Group, to implement a solar-powered, pay-for-use water vending system using the M-PESA backbone. The solar-powered well is activated using a smart card, which permits water to flow until either the card is removed or the user’s account runs out of credit. ... ”With this system we can monitor remotely how efficiently the solar well is operating, how much water has been used and how much income has been generated,” Mr. Hansen added.

Read full article. permalink (September 4th, 2009)

Mobile money to poor seen $5 billion market in 2012

The market of mobile financial services to poor people in emerging markets will surge from nothing to $5 billion in 2012, U.S.-based microfinance policy and research center CGAP said on Monday. Reuters reports.

The market began in early 2007 with a launch of Safaricom's M-PESA in Kenya, which has attracted 6.5 million customers, or one in six Kenyans. Operators in several emerging countries have followed, and by end-2009 CGAP expects more than 120 mobile money implementations in developing markets. The new estimates are part of GCAP's joint study with industry group GSMA on estimating the size of mobile financial markets. The study is due to be published next week at the Mobile Money Summit in Barcelona. Pickens said on top of the $5 billion, telecoms operators could save up to $2 billion from lower customer turnover, and the takeup of financial services would lift by $1.10 their average monthly revenue per user (ARPU).

Image and related article from Reuters. permalink (June 15th, 2009)

SMS scheme taps work force in developing countries

A new scheme that distributes simple tasks via text messages is being used to target a potential untapped work force in developing countries. The BBC reports.

Txteagle is making it possible for many people in countries like Kenya to earn small amounts of money by completing simple tasks like translations or transcriptions. The service was founded by Nathan Eagle, a researcher at the Santa Fe Institute in New Mexico. ... "An individual in Kilifi receives the text message saying, please translate the word 'address book'. "They type in that particular word and it gets sent back to our server, which is collecting a lot of responses from that same task until we are confident we have the right answer. "Once we get the right answer we push it back to - in this case - Nokia. "This system enables companies like Nokia to build-up a corpus of these translations, so that they can do software localisation," he said. He feels that texting tasks like simple translations to participants in developing countries is economical not only in a business sense but also provides participants with an additional source of income. ... All payments for completed tasks are received by mobile phones, using M-PESA, a popular mobile banking service.

permalink (February 12th, 2009)

Money transfers by text message

Anam a Dublin-based company that has specialized in new styles of cellphone messages, on Monday begins offering a service they say could revolutionize money transfers. The IHT reports. "The service allows users to choose a name from their mobile phone address book, type in "cash" with the amount to be sent and press "send" for a transfer to be made from their bank account to another person's bank account. An automated system calls the sender to confirm the person and amount being sent and, if confirmed, a text message is sent to inform the recipient that the money is on its way. While such a service could be useful for anyone who has run short of cash while sharing a restaurant bill, the real target group for Anam is immigrant workers who send money home. The market for overseas remittances is substantial. A study by the World Bank estimates that overseas workers from developing countries sent more than $72.3 billion back to their home countries in 2001. "Our system is intended to allow people to cut back on trips to money transfer outlets," said Jote Bassi, the marketing director of Anam. "This system offers tremendous convenience, and there is no reason why the operators and banks involved could not undercut the current channels for money transferring." Related services: -- Maxis Malaysia unveils cell phone money transfer M-money -- Using text message to send cash -- India Tests Sending Money through Mobile Phones -- Kenyans to transfer money using cell phones via M-Pesa service -- Mobile carriers create a global system to facilitate cash transfers permalink (June 18th, 2007)

Maxis unveils cell phone money transfer

Malaysia's top mobile phone operator Maxis has tied up with the Philippines' Globe Telecom to introduce a new mobile international money transfer service called M-money (but this is not a first, as they claim - see links below), enabling thousands of Filipino workers in Malaysia to remit money to their families back home. Associated Press reports. "Under the system, Maxis customers can wire up to 500 ringgit ($143) per transaction to Globe subscribers in the Philippines, who can retrieve the money at Globe's 6,000 outlets, the statement said. Maxis customers must cash in the money with Maxis before making any overseas remittance and are charged only a five ringgit ($1.47) service fee per transaction, less than half the fee that bank charges, it added." Related: -- Using text message to send cash - Smart Communications, the system of using text messages to transfer cash now delivers at least $50 million a month to families in the Philippines, according to Washington-based lender International Finance Corp . According to bank data, nearly 8 million Filipinos in more than 100 countries sent nearly $100 billion home over the past 30 years. -- India Tests Sending Money through Mobile Phones - India's Bharti Airtel has joined hands with The GSM Association to launch a pilot program that will eventually enable over 25 million Indians abroad to remit money to India through their mobile phones. -- Kenyans to transfer money using cell phones - Safaricom, Kenya's biggest cell phone firm, on Tuesday launched a money transfer service Known as M-Pesa, or mobile money. Apart from transferring cash - a service much in demand among urban Kenyans supporting relatives in rural areas - customers of the Safaricom network will be able to keep up to 50,000 shillings (£370) in a "virtual account" on their handsets. -- Mobile carriers facilitate cash transfers - A group of 19 mobile operators with networks in more than 100 countries and representing more than 600 million customers joined forces to create a global system joined forces on Monday to make it easier and cheaper for hundreds of millions of immigrants and migrant workers to send money home by using their mobile phones. permalink (May 31st, 2007)

Money transfer service wows Kenya

The lives of many Kenyans are being transformed by a free mobile phone money transfer service offered by Safaricom, called M-Pesa. The BBC reports. "The service, which is in the process of rolling out to most major towns in Kenya, is also cheap - costing on average about $1 to send or receive money. ... Micheal Joseph, Safaricom's chief executive, said the idea first started as a trial money transfer service in the micro-finance industry two years ago. The success of the trial project drove the company to explore moving money among individuals across the country. "Within two weeks of the launch over 10,000 account holders were registered and more than $100,000 had been transferred," Mr Joseph said. Plans are under way to test this on an international stage in an effort to tap the large amounts of money transferred to Kenya by its citizens spread throughout the world, Mr Joseph revealed. Related: - Kenya sets world first with money transfers by mobile permalink (April 4th, 2007)

Kenya sets world first with money transfers by mobile

In what is being touted as a world first, Kenya's biggest mobile operator is allowing subscribers to send cash to other phone users by SMS. The Guardian reports. "Known as M-Pesa, or mobile money, the service is expected to revolutionise banking in a country where more than 80% of people are excluded from the formal financial sector. Apart from transferring cash - a service much in demand among urban Kenyans supporting relatives in rural areas - customers of the Safaricom network will be able to keep up to 50,000 shillings (£370) in a "virtual account" on their handsets. Developed by Vodafone, which holds a 35% share in Safaricom,M-Pesa was formally launched in Kenya two weeks ago. More than 10,000 people have signed up for the service, with around 8m shillings transferred so far, mostly in tiny denominations. M-Pesa's is simple. There is no need for a new handset or SIM card. To send money you hand over the cash to a registered agent - typically a retailer - who credits your virtual account. You then send between 100 shillings (74p) and 35,000 shillings (£259) via text message to the desired recipient - even someone on a different mobile network - who cashes it at an agent by entering a secret code and showing ID. A commission of up to 170 shillings (£1.25) is paid by the recipient but it compares favourably with fees levied by the major banks, whose services are too expensive for most of the population. ... In time, M-Pesa will allow people to borrow and repay money, and make purchases. Companies will be able to pay salaries directly into workers' phones - something that has already attracted the interest of larger employers, such as the tea companies, whose workers often have to be paid in cash as they do not have bank accounts." Related: - Kenyans to transfer money using cell phones permalink (March 21st, 2007)

New Frontiers For Cellphone Service

A wonderful article today in the WSJ on how telecom firms see potential in the world's remotest regions - by providing (the first) biodiesel-fueled base station, organizing communal cellphones, offering new payment options for lower-income customers and mobile banking, which lets people who don't have bank accounts use their cellphones to transfer money. The whole article is a must read, but here are excerpts from the part referring to mobile banking: "... For some companies, emerging markets are an incubator for new services such as mobile banking, which lets people who don't have bank accounts use their cellphones to transfer money. The concept is starting to take hold in some markets, such as the Philippines and South Africa. Kenyan operator Safaricom Ltd., a joint venture between Telkom Kenya Ltd. and Vodafone, is launching a service called M-PESA that lets customers without bank accounts transfer money using text messages. Customers using M-PESA, which stands for mobile money, get a new chip installed in their phone at no cost so they can add credit to their account at street kiosks, gas stations or shops -- basically any seller of cellphone airtime credit. They can send the credit to any other Kenyan mobile phone via a code-bearing text message. Recipients then take their phone with the text message to a retailer or similar outlet to pick up their cash. The service may, someday, include other financial transactions, such as paying utility bills and taking out small loans, says Nick Hughes, head of mobile payment at Vodafone, of Newbury, England. Customers initially will be able to make only domestic money transfers, but the company hopes to take the service to other parts of its global network. While the potential of such services long has been discussed for developed markets, they have failed to take off there due to well-established alternatives such as debit cards and credit cards. And industry experts note a number of challenges for mobile banking in general, including technological and regulatory requirements." permalink (February 13th, 2007)