FromVOALearningEnglish,thisistheEconomicsReportinSpecialEnglish.
EthiopiaisoneofthelastcountriesinAfricatopermitmobilebanking.
Mobilebankinghasprovedtobeprofitableinthedevelopingworld,wheremanypeoplestilldonotusebanks.Earlierthisyear,theWorldBankreportedthatseventy-fivepercentoftheworld’spoorare“unbanked.”Thatisabouttwopointfivebillionpeople.Bankingthroughmobiletelephonesletspeopletakepartinfinancialserviceseveniftheyarenotnearabankoffice.
InAfrica,onlyEthiopiaandZimbabwedonotprovidemobilemoneyservices.Now,thatwillchangeforEthiopia.
BelCashandM-Birraremobilebankingtechnologyproviders.TheyhavebeensettingupmobilebankingandmobilemoneyservicesinEthiopiaforthepastthreeyears.
DutchcompanyBelCashisworkinginpartnershipwithbankstoprovideeasieraccesstofinancingthroughbankaccounts.Ireland-basedM-Birrisamobilemoneyservicethatworkswithmicrofinancegroupswherenoregistrationatabankisneeded.
Ethiopia’smobileindustryisyoung.Andwirelessservicecoverageinthecountryisnotwelldeveloped.Thepressureonthewirelessnetworkisexpectedtoincrease.
Inthepastfouryears,thenumberofmobileusersgrewfromthreetoseventeenmillion.AndEthiopia’stelecommunicationsprovider,EthioTelecom,expectsthatnumbertogrowtofortymillioninthenextthreeyears.
ThegovernmentcloselycontrolsEthiopia’stelecommunicationsmarket.Thatmeansthereisonlyoneprovider.Competitionisnotpermitted.
M-BirrGeneralManagerThierryArtaudsaysEthiopia’sneighborshaveseveralmobileproviders.
"Ifyoulookatyourneighbors,Kenya,TanzaniaUganda,theyallhavemultiplemobileoperatorsandtheyallhavemobilemoneyservicesandevenmultiplemobilemoneyservices.”
Hesays,ifEthiopiahadnorestrictions,hiscompanywouldhavetocompetewithlargercompanies.
Ethiopiahaslookedatotherdevelopingcountrieswithmobilebanking.NationalBankofEthiopiaofficialsvisitedKenya,PakistanandBrazil.
FrezerAyalewiswiththeNationalBankofEthiopia.Hesaysmobilebankingserviceswillhelpthecountry.
“Fortheeconomyithasgreatcontributionintermsofmobilizingdomesticsavingswiththeseservices.”
TheNationalBankofEthiopiarecentlyfinishedadraftorderonhowmobilebankingservicesshouldbestructured.Thiscomesasmorecompanieshaveshowninterestinstartingmobilebankingservices.