Some more interesting global stats
1. Western Union outlets – 200000
2. Bank Branches – 500000
3. Post Offices – 600000
4. ATM’s – 1.1 million
5. Cell phone – 2 billion
Sources : – Multiple
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slight problem:
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2007/03/14/stories/2007031402490400.htm
Regulatory hurdles may impact mobile money transfer growth in India. DOT may consider the money transferred through the network as part of the revenue which has to be shared (6-10% to the govt). I don’t think the DOT will be that stupid, but then it has acted illogically in the past.
Bharti and SBI are there already it seems. And Mastercard seems to have a global setup going too.
The use of mobile as a wallet is really a good and a suddenly recognized information by everyone… From what I heard, the clones of M-Pesa (http://www.vodafone.com/article/0,3029,CATEGORY_ID%253D30403%2526LANGUAGE_ID%253D0%2526CONTENT_ID%253D278612,00.html)
are about to hit Indian market.. Airtel will pilot with SBI and Citibank with Hutch(Vodafone!).
Anyone has idea about the regulations involved in these kind of peer-to-peer mobile transfers?
Cash through mobile phones? There is a very interesting use of GSM technology where even the lowest end phone will be able to have a unbreakable connection to the server (unlike SMSes which are disconnected) – and this can be used for a mobile transaction since the line is already secure. Mobile currency has generally needed GPRS and Java and stuff which honestly is out of the reach of the #5 up there who don’t have easy access to #1 to #4.
One needs to be an NBFC or a bank to host the transaction end of things, with the capital regulation in the country, but we need that anyways because eventually the money movement has to be accessible to someone’s bank account (and therefore ATM).
I love the idea but I don’t have the bandwidth to implement it – a friend is currently talking to a bank abroad that has already done this in that country. The equipment itself will cost more than 2 crores, and then there is mobile providers space, linking up with bank(s), distribution and marketing. Development costs are next to nothing (less than 5 lakhs) but the whole thing hinges on selling, maintaining and servicing everyone in the chain (bank, mobile provider, end customer) That requires a mindset slightly different from the average techpreneur.
I think the power of the mobile is phenomenal. In the country I talk about, there are people who are using it for short term funds – i.e. the mobile is not just a currency carrier but also used to lend people money in the same medium (microfinancing at the technical edge). If two people want to transact, one person makes the appropriate moves on his cell phone, and the other one gets a message saying the money is transferred. Money doesn’t stay “in the cell phone” – that’ll never work like “wallet” concepts did not – but is actually transferred physically at the bank. In some places, people just transact using their mobiles; no cash. ATMs are too far and credit cards won’t go there, so this is a boon – and when you add micro-credit in there, you suddenly double the potential.