Uganda ranks high in Africa for mobile money use

July 25, 2017 in Business, Markets, Technology & Telecoms by Editor

July 25—Uganda is among the seven markets in sub-Saharan Africa where more than 40% of adults are active mobile money users, the rest being Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Namibia, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.

According to GSMA, the global mobile network umbrella, the latest data highlights how the mobile money market in the region has evolved from primarily being used to top-up airtime and make person-to-person (P2P) transfers to becoming a platform that enables additional financial services, including bill payments, merchant payments and international remittances.

“Mobile money is now achieving mass-market adoption in all corners of sub-Saharan Africa, enabling millions of people to access financial services for the first time and contributing to economic growth and social development,” Mats Granryd, the GSMA Director General said.

He said, “Mobile operators in the region today are using mobile money to create new financial ecosystems that can deliver a range of innovative new services across multiple industry sectors, including utilities and agriculture.”

The volume of these new types of ‘ecosystem payments’ almost quadrupled between 2014 and 2016 and now accounts for about 17% of all mobile money transactions, driven by a significant rise in the number of mobile-based bill payments.

There were 277 million registered mobile money accounts across sub-Saharan Africa at the end of 2016, plus 1.5 million registered agents. GSMA says mobile money users have historically been concentrated in East Africa, home to major mobile money markets such as Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.

However, the latest data suggests that user growth is now being driven by other markets in the region, notably West Africa. Almost 29% of active mobile money accounts in sub-Saharan Africa are now based in West Africa, compared to just eight per cent five years earlier.