300m adults without mobile payment access in Africa – JBB

Los Angeles-based research company with focus on telecommunications, JBB Research, has disclosed that over 300 million adults are without access in the African mobile payment market.

JBB Research in its latest newsletter, volume 16 made available to ITRealms Online, the firm noted that over the past few years, mobile payment solutions have experienced strong adoption in emerging markets like Africa as they perfectly fit the needs of many Africans who have limited resources or don’t have a bank account.

“With 116 mobile payment services already available or set to go live in the coming quarters, the mobile payment market has become an overcrowded space in the African region,” the company said.

The level of competition in certain African markets like Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda or Tanzania has increased dramatically over the past few years.

For instance, JBB cited Ghana, saying that eight mobile payment services are now available against seven in Tanzania and Uganda.

JBB research also revealed that Nokia in association with Obopay, which is set to introduce its Nokia Money service early next year, is well positioned to become a serious player in this space as well as a peacemaker. “However, several issues need to be overcome before the market reaches its full potential,” according to the Principal Analyst and CEO of JBB, Julien Blin.

This is coming as Mobile Web Revenue is expected to reach $23.6 billion by 2013 with 50 per cent of United States (U.S.) wireless subscribers.

As said by Blin, 2010 is the year of mobile application stores, unlimited data plans and smartphones with full browsing technologies, providing a perfect storm of adoption, carrier revenue realization.

JBB equally predicted a robust growth in mobile web usage in the U.S. given the increasing openness in mobile networks, the growing popularity of smartphones, including iPhone 3G S, Palm Pre, BlackBerry Storm.

By 2013, JBB said, mobile users will be able to enjoy a full mobile web experience across various platforms through cell phone, PC, laptop, digital camera, in addition to network types such as 3G, LTE, WiMAX, WiFi and business models.

Further, Blin said that by the end of 2013, the total U.S. mobile web revenue will reach a total of $23.6 billion, up from $5.5 billion in 2008, representing a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 34.0 per cent.

“We are seeing all the key ingredients for an explosion of mobile web usage in the U.S. in the coming years” Blin said, noting that the U.S. wireless consumers could now enjoy more advanced mobile browsers such as open-source mobile browsers like WebKit or Gecko; more capable and affordable 3G Smartphones such as iPhone, 3G S,Palm Pre, and soon the Motorola Droid among others.

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