vas as catalyst for mobilemoney uptake: a nigerian case
TRANSCRIPT
Discussion Roadmap
• MobileMoney (MM) in Nigeria today
• Why is Nigerian MM uptake not yet fantastic?
• What is VAS/mVAS?
• Transiting from the Known to the Unknown: useful data
on the potency of VAS as a door-opener
• Harnessing the Govt-telco-private sector opportunity
• Next steps
• Mobile payment uptake numbers are still low for a
2011-launched service that had so much promise
• MMOs have not broken the cash-culture inertia
• But, Nigerians already pay for services via voluntarily
digitized money (user-initiated VAS)...since GSM launch in
2001
• Some encouraging figures of e-commerce, m-
commerce & presently live portals indicate an appetite (jumia, konga, linda-ekeji blog, nairaland, eskimi & alexa data)
• A key challenge is how to intelligently & beneficially
transit that crowd to the m-payment eco-system (ask Telcos who planned to transit airtime agents to MM agents)
The Landscape today
• Reasons for low adoption in Nigeria are well documented:
• technology interoperability (NIBBS, MNOs & MMOs)
• Un-abating mass ignorance levels of prospective users
� the trust-understanding-benefit perception cycle hasn’t kicked in
� missing groundswell: Government-Telco-Bank collabo initiatives
• insufficient expertise & pedigree in rollout & agency
approach (e.g. "scanty-menu" syndrome of most rolled out MMOs)
• lack of finance & underestimation of a MM business build (the agent network, then technology and marketing)
• This presentation addresses what we are to start doing now
or could have been doing irrespective…assuming these 4
problems don’t go away
Why the low MM Uptake?
By VAS, we mean..?
• FIRST, THE USUAL SUSPECTS...mVAS TODAY
• Ringtones
• Wallpapers & themes
• Video clips & games
• Caller Ring-back tunes (CRBT) & RRBT
• Text-based subscription & SMS chat services
• OTHER VAS FOR BOTTOM-PYRAMID NIGERIANS
• mEDU (via SMS or apps done right e.g. Nokia Life)
• mHEALTH
• mAGRIC
• mRELIGION
• Revenue collection
• As well as the usual suspects listed above, intelligently customized to be really need-filling services
Mostly entertainment
Higher-value, “closer-to-you”
services
• Let’s crunch these numbers..
• Russia: 14% of gross MNO inflow in Q1 2007, hit 20% in 2012
• Ireland: 30% of gross MNO inflow 2008, hit 35% in 2012
• Ghana: 20% of gross MNO inflow (a specific MNO)
• Nigeria: ??? Not with the NCC…ask WASPAN
- Assuming Nigeria today hits 10% of MNO gross, that translates
to a potential 11 million Nigerians using MobileMoney
- Operators reluctant to make it happen, but some other factors
coming together as we speak will shift the goalpost
• This is not about transaction volumes, because what
people want to buy remains fairly constant in this context.
• This refers to actual Nigerian citizens regularly using MobileMoney because it’s trusted, easier to use, has a
stable eco-system, connotes safety, savings and profits.
How much can VAS drive MM uptake?
* MNO: Mobile network operator
1. M-AGRIC: Government’s present build of an accountability
infrastructure for Nigeria’s greatest GDP-contributing
industry is driven by mobile: an opening for a visionary MMO
2. Apart from all other issues before them, if the NCC and IT
Ministry applied the real interpretation of “local content
protection” to the Nigerian telecoms space, VAS &
MobileMoney will move off at full throttle
3. Well thought-out Govt-Bank-telco initiatives open MM uptake
doors globally in similar markets (cashless Lagos as a push
policy. Pull mechanisms assign power to the user, more sustainable)
4. No University curricula/roadmap for VAS & MobileMoney
Initiatives for Government to drive
• Some MMOs and independents have taken the bull by
the horn to effect change, chaos-irrespective:
• Microleverage
• WASPAN
• Cellulant
• Rervbox
• Accendo Associates…and a host of others
• Initiatives that identify the blue oceans & that nudge the
system to push these recommendations have begun
• Universities are being approached directly, but the
Government needs to embrace the idea and “stamp” it
• VAS providers are seeking better ways to hit 20% of
Operator inflow in 2-3 years’ time
• …the groundswell has begun
Next steps
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Kindly mail me..