在很多发展中国家,很多人都没有银行账户,而商品交易又需要转账.在一些手机用户的数量大大多于银行账户数量的地方,用手机付款成了一种便捷的方式.

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Business development in Africa has been hampered by a lack of an efficient and reliable infrastructure, especially outside the main cities. But that could soon change.

The concept of mobile money is enabling previously disenfranchised buyers and sellers to leapfrog into the 21st century.

Africa has the fastest-growing mobile phone market in the world. In South Africa, mobile phones outnumber fixed lines by eight to one and in Kenya, where there were just 15,000 handsets in use a decade ago, that number now tops 15 million.

Mobile money could put an end to the days when Africans must spend ten dollars on bus fare just to deliver twenty dollars to a relative in a far-off village, or join long queues in banking halls to pay bills.

Stephen Waiswa is head of UTL Mobile Money or M-Sente. He says mobile money transfers are nothing new but the mobile phone makes it more accessible to the wider population, he says:

"Basically it is a money transfer service from one person to another. Here we are trying to look at how to reach the rural un-banked population. So the mobile money concept lies along those circles. Your Sim card becomes your account, M-Sente account. So if you deposit money you have actually deposited on your virtual account - that is the Sim Card."

In Uganda, with a population of around 32 million, only about three million have bank accounts but over 10 million have mobile phones.

The ease of use of the system encourages an increase in trade across the country, making business transactions easier from upcountry districts to the capital city of Kampala and back.
Joseph Arinaitwe, head of E-Banking at UBA Bank, says the low cost and convenience of money transfers accounts for its success.

"Mobile money basically has picked up because it answers three fundamental problems. The first is convenience. The average Ugandan, the average East African has no time to come to the bank. Some banks are situated very far from where they are, where they live and where they do there businesses. Secondly, the cost of opening a bank account in this part of the world is still expensive. Thirdly, the cost of maintaining a bank account is very high."

For market trader, Isaac Mwende, mobile money works well for both the buyer and seller and security tools make it safe.

"Most people use Mobile Money because it is very easy. There is no need of carrying money, taking to the bank, carrying money, paying somebody. So long as you have MTN Mobile Money, that's all - you just send the money to that person and everything goes well and forward. If somebody steals your phone there is no way your money can get lost. You easily go to a mobile point and replace your number and they give you your line and your money is also there."

Until now, like many developing nations, Uganda has been largely a cash economy. 8 out of 10 money transfers are sent or received in cash.

Now, using the mobile phone as a bank account reduces the need to carry cash and enables users to purchase airtime, pay utility bills, school fees and pay for food in the market.

Sending money between registered mobile money transfer clients costs just 33 cents USD to make transactions ranging from USD$2-$500.

For CRI, I am Li Dong.

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