Mobile-phone minutes as a tradeable currency in Kenya

Safaricom, Kenya's largest mobile phone company, has launched a new service allowing subscribers to buy prepaid phone cards which enable them to transfer any selected amount of surplus minutes to other subscribers, using SMS.

You can pay a supplier with it, or even create a little bank of phone call credits to sell to others. This new cyber currency can be sent anywhere in the country at the press of a button, without needing a bank account or incurring high bank charges. The mobile phone is multiplying its revolutionary impact on the lives of the poor, giving them facilities once available only to the rich.

(via World Changing, BBC News)

Regine | 8:05 AM | SMS and Micro Payments |
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