Mobile Water Payment Innovations in Urban Africa

This study assess mobile payment options for water service bills in four urban African contexts. Systems are evaluated to identify differences in adoption levels and motivations and barriers to uptake; how costs are distributed among water service providers, mobile network operators, and customers; and mobile payment applications and designs. Data was collected through interviews with water service providers, mobile network operators and service regulators, as well as a household survey in one of the study regions and the aid of World Bank and national water regulator data. Mobile water payment adoption rates were low, but there was also evidence that key barriers such as limited awareness, lack of physical proof of payment, and high transaction tariffs, could be overcome. Increased mobile water payment is found to result in considerable savings in time and money for consumers, revenue for mobile network operators, and perhaps most importantly, strengthened finances for water service providers to improve their ability to provide sustainable service

Fighting Poverty, Profitably: Transforming the Economics of Payments to Build Sustainable, Inclusive Financial Systems

The Gates Foundation's Financial Services for the Poor program (FSP) believes that effective financial services are paramount in the fight against poverty. Nonetheless, today more than 2 billion people live outside the formal financial sector. Increasing their access to high quality, affordable financial services will accelerate the well-being of households, communities, and economies in the developing world. One of the most promising ways to deliver these financial services to the poor -- profitably and at scale -- is by using digital payment platforms.These are the conclusions we have reached as the result of extensive research in pursuit of one of the Foundation's primary missions: to give the world's poorest people the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty.FSP conducted this research because we believe that there is a gap in the fact base and understanding of how payment systems can extend digital services to low income consumers in developing markets. This is a complex topic, with fragmented information and a high degree of country-by-country variability. A complete view across the entire payment system has been missing, limiting how system providers, policy makers, and regulators (groups we refer to collectively as financial inclusion stakeholders) evaluate decisions and take actions. With a holistic view of the payment system, we believe that interventions can have higher impact, and stakeholders can better understand and address the ripple effects that changes to one part of the system can have. In this report, we focus on the economics of payment systems to understand how they can be transformed to serve poor people in a way that is profitable and sustainable in aggregate

Factors influencing branchless banking for microfinance in Sudan: Theoretical perspectives and future directions

In Sudan more than 40% live below the poverty line and getting basic financial service poses a challenge to financial institutions. Most of these unserved populations live in far-flung areas that make it difficult for microfinance institutions to reach them. But the enormous growth of mobile technology industry has created new opportunity to expand financial services to this unserved population. Branchless banking is one of the latest technologies that have been employed in different developing countries to expand financial services to the unbanked poor. Despite the potential benefits and relevance of Branchless banking to Sudan, there are still very few studies on Branchless banking in Sudan. To address this gap in the literature, this study aims to investigate the factors that are essential to the development of branchless banking in Sudan using mobile technology. This is a research-in-progress paper, the critical review of the literature so far revealed that there are essential factors for the success of branchless banking in Sudan e.g. the identification of the industry key players and their roles, the enabling regulatory environment, the infrastructure readiness and Sudanese cultural values. The paper will provide regulators and policy makers in Sudan a way forward to expedite the development of suitable Branchless banking for microfinance in Sudan

Broadcast scheduling for mobile advertising

We describe a broadcast scheduling system developed for a precision marketing firm specialized in location-sensitive permission-based mobile advertising using SMS (Short Message Service) text messaging. Text messages containing advertisements were sent to registered customers when they were shopping in one of two shopping centers in the vicinity of London. The ads typically contained a limited-time promotional offer. The company's problem was deciding which ads to send out to which customers at what particular time, given a limited capacity of broadcast time slots, while maximizing customer response and revenues from retailers paying for each ad broadcast. We solved the problem using integer programming with an interface in Microsoft Excel. The system significantly reduced the time required to schedule the broadcasts, and resulted both in increased customer response and revenues

Reforming consumer representation in UK communications

Communications consumers in the UK do not switch provider enough, and when they do they sometimes do so irrationally. As the government conducts a welcome review of the landscape of consumer representation in the UK, they should be aware that there is an ongoing, permanent need for consumer representation that is specific to the communications sector. The government’s proposals, by shifting consumer advocacy to the Citizen’s Advice Bureau, are likely to result in an increase in costs to the public purse. Within the current model Ofcom and its consumer panel receive almost half their funding from the private sector. If the body is moved to Citizens Advice, the proportion met by public funding will be higher. The fast changing, technical complexity of the communications sector makes a consumer representative particularly important. Consumer advocacy in communications will be most efficient if it is within Ofcom, but has much more effective operational independence from it

E-commerce settles for established payment systems: Limited market potential for innovative payment systems

Established payment systems play a dominant role also in B2C e-commerce. Innovative payment systems can only be a success here if they pay attention to the particular features of e-commerce, convey the worth of their value-adding unique selling proposition and enjoy the support of established e-shops or financial service providers. However, apart from rare cases the conventional payment systems leave little room for the innovative systems. This holds all the more since the conventional payment systems are responding to the new demands of B2C e-commerce.Information- and communication technology; ICT; E-Business; E-Commerce; B2C-E-Commerce; Internet; e-payments

Hardship policies in practice: a comparative study

Drawing on the grassroots professional experiences of financial counsellors as well as focus group interviews with consumers, this report outlines how the telecommunications industry\u27s hardship policies and practices compare with those of the banking, energy and water industries. Summary In 2012, Financial Counselling Australia (FCA) received a grant from the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network to conduct research comparing hardship practices in the banking, energy, water and telecommunications sectors. The purpose of this research was two-fold. First, as a broad analysis, we wanted to find out from financial counsellors and other stakeholders what systems and processes were most effective – ‘what works’ – when it comes to assisting customers experiencing financial hardship. This topic is particularly relevant to FCA and to financial counsellors. Financial counsellors assist people in financial difficulty and have first-hand experience when it comes to hardship programs in the banks, utilities and telcos (see box for a more detailed explanation of the role of a financial counsellor). By documenting good practices in place for assisting consumers experiencing hardship, we can share this information with our colleagues in industry, the community sector, external dispute resolution (EDR) schemes, regulators and government who can apply it in their own sectors. The second purpose of the research was to apply the broad findings about ‘what works’ to the telecommunications industry. In recent years, financial counsellors have worked closely with the banking industry to review hardship policies and practices, resulting in a number of changes. The financial counselling sector is now engaged in a similar dialogue with the telecommunications industry and this research will inform those discussions

Bundles and Range Strategies: The Case of Telecom Operators

Against a background of competition and the generalisation of IP that characterises the field of electronic communications, the concept of the "bundle" has resulted in the emergence of "triple play", and even "quadruple play." This paper offers an overview of the growth of this phenomenon by introducing a distinction between the basic components of multiplay strategies and the diverse range of functions that can be linked to these strategies.Bundle; range strategy; triple play; quadruple play

Savings: A Gateway to Financial Inclusion

This document presents recent savings work and includes a three-year project with four of our network members. At the outset of the project titled Safe Places to Save, Women's World Banking conducted targeted research and diagnostics in four markets (Colombia, Pakistan, Kenya, and the Dominican Republic) but our analysis of the impact of savings on women's lives dates back to 1999 when Women's World Banking began building a significant body of market research on savings. Four of our early studies focused explicitly on the demand and feasibility for savings services. Data were also drawn from research into the drivers of customer satisfaction and loyalty carried out in multiple markets. In addition, Women's World Banking has conducted in-depth research studies to better understand the ways in which women's roles within poor households affect the allocation of time and money and financial behaviors. Unique in the field of microfinance, these five studies yielded striking insights into the ways men and women see themselves, and each other, as economic actors, and what those perceptions mean for financial institutions seeking to provide savings

The use of prepaid cards for banking the poor

Prepaid products can become an effective instrument for banking the poor, as they can be used for collecting microdeposits and so operate as a low-cost account. Prepaid platforms have characteristics that make them especially useful for developing low-cost microfinance business models. Indeed, customers using prepaid systems do not need bank accounts or debit or credit cards. Prepaid issuers do not need to develop or invest in new technologies, as this mechanism can be used on a range of platforms, including PCs, mobile phones, hand-held and set-top boxes. Furthermore, prepaid products are specially designed for offering services demanded by the poor, such as micropayments, microdeposits and even microcredits. Lastly, they allow users to monitor their cash flow by receiving statements (some providers offer this feature online, others provide physical statements) or accessing balances through PCs, mobile phones, hand-held and set-top boxes. Besides collecting microdeposits, prepaid products (or SVCs as they are called in the United States) offer other services that can be very valuable for serving the unbanked population. As explained in this paper, prepaid products generally lack the identification and credit requirements that effectively bar millions of individuals from opening traditional bank accounts, especially in the United States. Moreover, prepaid products can be purchased and reloaded at a growing number of locations other than bank branches, such as check cashers, convenience stores and other retailers. Prepaid instruments can also provide immediate availability of funds at a cost that, in some cases, is lower than other alternatives for unbanked consumers. Also, prepaid products are difficult to overdraw, thus reducing the likelihood of unexpected fees. Lastly, many prepaid issuers offer some sort of bill pay option, especially branded cards that enable signature-based transactions, and a significant number of them offer remittances.Prepaid card; microdeposits; mobile phone; store value card; e-money; banking the poor;