With traditional mobile revenue waning and the emergence of new technologies that open cellphones up for a number of alternative uses, consumers can expect SA's mobile operators to modify their mobile money services significantly.
This is according to industry observers and comes as SA's two main operators move to win mass market consumers over with cellphone banking services - an offering that has up to now failed to gather much steam.
Last week, MTN announced a partnership with retail giant Pick n Pay that extends its Mobile Money offering beyond pure mobile banking, into the airtime sphere, and takes away a major barrier to entry: transfer fees.
Vodacom, meanwhile, is working on a new IT platform that interfaces directly into banks and enhances its M-Pesa cellphone banking service. The much-delayed re-launch is set to happen within about a month - although Vodacom says it is making sure it gets the new platform right before going live.
Fresh approach
Ovum analyst Richard Hurst says there is decent business to be had in mobile banking services in SA by operators, but their approach has in the past missed the mark.
"I think that in the past the approach taken by operators and players like financial institutions has been haphazard and unguided. Often we saw products and services being launched that failed to take into account the end-user's needs and how the subscribers wanted to use their mobile banking services."
Last year May, Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub conceded the operator's M-Pesa offering had been unsuccessful, hence the fresh approach and imminent re-launch.
Hurst says the operators are now beginning to realise the need for new strategies, but there is a long road that lies between SA's estimated 13 million unbanked and bridging the banking gap through mobile.
"In terms of the unbanked and meeting the needs of the consumers who are still using feature phones, the operators and financial institutions still have a long way to go. A major challenge is and will be the cost of transaction. The market that the services are targeted at is very cost-conscious and will need to be made aware of any potential value in using mobile money."
ICT veteran Adrian Schofield says the "unbanked" are often referred to as though they need to be cured, but people in this group have more options now than in the past. "It started way back when, with the transfer of airtime. Now, it is possible to perform cardless transactions at ATMs."
He says he has no doubt MTN and Vodacom will "fine-tune" their mobile money services to match the South African market more effectively going forward.
"There is still a massive unbanked population in SA and mobile services could certainly go a long way to changing this," says Hurst.
Share