Page 10 - Tanzania-Enabling-Mobile-Money-Policies
P. 10
enaBLinG moBiLe moneY PoLiCieS in tanZania
1
the growth of mobile
money in tanzania:
Policy-enabled and
market-led
i n 2009, the market for mobile voice services was already very competitive in tanzania, with six service providers and no dominant
player. at that time, 28% (7,232,143) of tanzania’s 22.35 million adults owned a mobile phone and 32% used someone else’s mobile
7
phone. although mobile penetration was still relatively low (32%), mobile network subscriptions were growing quickly and reached 13
million by the end of 2008. While mobile network access and mobile phone usage were increasing, the reach of the financial sector was
still very limited; only 9% of adults (1,951,310) were banked. 8
When vodacom tanzania’s m-Pesa went live in april 2008, one year after an extremely successful launch of the service in Kenya, analysts
were expecting the service to take off in the same way and at the same speed. however, in its first 14 months, the growth of vodacom’s
m-Pesa service remained well below that seen by Safaricom’s m-Pesa in Kenya. vodacom registered 280,000 users who were transfer-
ring US$5.5 million per month at about 930 agent locations, compared to the 2.7 million users and 3,000 agents registered in Kenya
14 months after launch. to improve customer uptake, vodacom introduced some significant operational changes: a flat fee for m-Pesa
transfers, a simpler marketing approach, utility bill pay, and the use of agent aggregators to grow its agent network. Since then, voda-
9
com’s m-Pesa has taken off, three other mnos have launched mobile money deployments, and access to digital financial services has
10
increased significantly in the country.
at the end of September 2013, the Bot reported 30,342,540 registered mobile money users and 9,856,440 active users on a 90-day basis.
at that time, 714,930,074 transactions valued t ZS 19,953,359 million (US$12.3 billion) had been conducted since mobile money was launched.
vodacom has the highest number of clients, followed by t igo, airtel, and Zantel. Just over half (53%) of households report that they use m-
Pesa exclusively, while 18% use t igo Pesa only, and 13% of households only use airtel money. all ezy Pesa subscribers also use m-Pesa. 11
the agent network has also expanded significantly. Geographic information system (GiS) data from the Financial Sector deepening trust
tanzania (FSdt) indicates mobile money agents outnumber all other financial outlets by almost 10 to one (see map 1). there are roughly
17,000 m-Pesa agents, which represent 87% of the access points tanzanians use for financial services (see map 1). m-Pesa agents also
have the greatest potential for outreach: agents are in 29% of the wards where 40% of the population resides. this is in stark comparison
to automated teller machines (atms), brick-and-mortar bank branches, and microfinance institutions (mFi), which together reach only
17% of wards and 25% of the population. 12
the strong performance of mobile money in tanzania has been driven by the market and enabled by a regulatory environment that
promotes digital financial inclusion.
7. tanzanian Communication regulatory authority data, http://www.tcra.go.tz/images/documents/reports/statustelecommarketmarch09.pdf
8. Financial Sector deepening trust (2010), “FinScope 2009: the demand for and Barriers to accessing Financial Services in tanzania”.
9. Gunnar Camner, Caroline Pulver, and emil Sjöblom (2009), “What makes a Successful mobile money implementation? Learnings from m-Pesa in Kenya and tanzania”, GSma mobile money for the Unbanked (mmU) paper.
available at: http://www.gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/What-makes-a-successful-mobile-money-implementation.pdf
10. GSma, “mobile money for the Unbanked (mmU) deployment tracker”, http://www.gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment/programmes/mobile-money-for-the-unbanked/tracker
11. intermedia (2013), cit.
12. Financial Sector deepening trust, “Where’s the Cash? the Geography of Cash Points in tanzania”, FSdt Focus note no. 2, January 2013. available at:
http://www.fsdt.or.tz/fileadmin/downloads/Where_is_the_Cash_-_analysis_of_the_Census_of_Cash_outlets_in_tanzania_2012.pdf. For the data set, see www.fspmaps.com
4
1
the growth of mobile
money in tanzania:
Policy-enabled and
market-led
i n 2009, the market for mobile voice services was already very competitive in tanzania, with six service providers and no dominant
player. at that time, 28% (7,232,143) of tanzania’s 22.35 million adults owned a mobile phone and 32% used someone else’s mobile
7
phone. although mobile penetration was still relatively low (32%), mobile network subscriptions were growing quickly and reached 13
million by the end of 2008. While mobile network access and mobile phone usage were increasing, the reach of the financial sector was
still very limited; only 9% of adults (1,951,310) were banked. 8
When vodacom tanzania’s m-Pesa went live in april 2008, one year after an extremely successful launch of the service in Kenya, analysts
were expecting the service to take off in the same way and at the same speed. however, in its first 14 months, the growth of vodacom’s
m-Pesa service remained well below that seen by Safaricom’s m-Pesa in Kenya. vodacom registered 280,000 users who were transfer-
ring US$5.5 million per month at about 930 agent locations, compared to the 2.7 million users and 3,000 agents registered in Kenya
14 months after launch. to improve customer uptake, vodacom introduced some significant operational changes: a flat fee for m-Pesa
transfers, a simpler marketing approach, utility bill pay, and the use of agent aggregators to grow its agent network. Since then, voda-
9
com’s m-Pesa has taken off, three other mnos have launched mobile money deployments, and access to digital financial services has
10
increased significantly in the country.
at the end of September 2013, the Bot reported 30,342,540 registered mobile money users and 9,856,440 active users on a 90-day basis.
at that time, 714,930,074 transactions valued t ZS 19,953,359 million (US$12.3 billion) had been conducted since mobile money was launched.
vodacom has the highest number of clients, followed by t igo, airtel, and Zantel. Just over half (53%) of households report that they use m-
Pesa exclusively, while 18% use t igo Pesa only, and 13% of households only use airtel money. all ezy Pesa subscribers also use m-Pesa. 11
the agent network has also expanded significantly. Geographic information system (GiS) data from the Financial Sector deepening trust
tanzania (FSdt) indicates mobile money agents outnumber all other financial outlets by almost 10 to one (see map 1). there are roughly
17,000 m-Pesa agents, which represent 87% of the access points tanzanians use for financial services (see map 1). m-Pesa agents also
have the greatest potential for outreach: agents are in 29% of the wards where 40% of the population resides. this is in stark comparison
to automated teller machines (atms), brick-and-mortar bank branches, and microfinance institutions (mFi), which together reach only
17% of wards and 25% of the population. 12
the strong performance of mobile money in tanzania has been driven by the market and enabled by a regulatory environment that
promotes digital financial inclusion.
7. tanzanian Communication regulatory authority data, http://www.tcra.go.tz/images/documents/reports/statustelecommarketmarch09.pdf
8. Financial Sector deepening trust (2010), “FinScope 2009: the demand for and Barriers to accessing Financial Services in tanzania”.
9. Gunnar Camner, Caroline Pulver, and emil Sjöblom (2009), “What makes a Successful mobile money implementation? Learnings from m-Pesa in Kenya and tanzania”, GSma mobile money for the Unbanked (mmU) paper.
available at: http://www.gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/What-makes-a-successful-mobile-money-implementation.pdf
10. GSma, “mobile money for the Unbanked (mmU) deployment tracker”, http://www.gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment/programmes/mobile-money-for-the-unbanked/tracker
11. intermedia (2013), cit.
12. Financial Sector deepening trust, “Where’s the Cash? the Geography of Cash Points in tanzania”, FSdt Focus note no. 2, January 2013. available at:
http://www.fsdt.or.tz/fileadmin/downloads/Where_is_the_Cash_-_analysis_of_the_Census_of_Cash_outlets_in_tanzania_2012.pdf. For the data set, see www.fspmaps.com
4
