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Mobile Money (mobile money or so-called mobile payments) is a technology that allows people to receive, store and spend money using a mobile phone. Nicknamed in some forums as mobile wallet or as the name of a specific service such as mWeight (already present in Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania) EcoCash in some countries it is a very popular alternative as it is easy to use, safe and can be used anywhere there is a mobile phone signal. Just to give you an idea in 2018, 44% of Kenya's GDP was processed through Mobile Money transactions.
In addition to helping financial inclusion (Other Digital Inclusion), this service is comprehensive due to the almost universal availability of cell phones, which has already allowed millions to join the services. In Angola it would be no different, we know that there is a higher percentage of mobile phone users (according to INACOM approximately 16 million) than bank accounts (according to BNA only 30% of the Angolan population is financially included).
BUT: Huawei, Unitel, Mobile Money and financial inclusion
This technology has advantages in facilitating bank transactions, for example: In the commune of catofe, a region in the Cuanza Sul with a lot of agricultural potential, the farmer who intends to carry out some type of monetary transaction at the moment), whether to sell or buy his product, will have to travel approximately 30 km to reach the region of Waku Kungo (where most banking institutions are located) and still runs the risk of being robbed along the way, despite this fuel cost may be taken into account.
According to Global Mobile Price the cost of mobile data in Angola is approximately 5 USD per 1 GB, and precisely what this technology offers is that we don't need to have one. smartphone (that is, we will not need the mobile data network) to enjoy it, we just have a phone (small bomb commonly called) with network signal and so we can operate.
We highlight other advantages such as:
- Decrease in corruption as this technology implicitly decreases face to face contact with authorities which means less extortion.
- In case of an emergency, for rural regions where the health service is paid, it becomes easier to proceed with payment at inappropriate hours.
In Angola, this service is already taking its first steps where the Unitel and the project kwenda meet with exponential structure and performance.
O The Angolan government is a key player in the massification of the project, where the responsibility passes with the electrification of areas considered to be agricultural potential, since if there are no energy sources there will be a withdrawal of mobile Money (for obvious reasons). The state should work close to these communes/municipalities, bringing the technology closer together with the populations trustworthy. Being a very strong technology in the rural environment the mobile money should be included in projects for the massification of agriculture (PAC, PRODESI, etc.) with an aid content of massification and optimization of communication costs.
