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Why South Sudan Mobile Cash Is a Game Changer
Zain launched the first mobile money service in the country after persistent reports made a case for it, noting that it is the most plausible way to bridge financial inclusion gaps. A negligible number of the country’s population own bank accounts.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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A Power Outage and Mobile Money Blackout Expose the Vulnerability of Zimbabwe’s Economy
In what seems like a never-ending cycle of misery for ordinary Zimbabweans in the last year, it is likely there will be more power cuts and ultimately more economic disruption due to the country’s currency troubles and—now, climate change.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology, Telecommunications
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Ethiopia Offers New Hope for Phone Providers With African Dreams
As part of an ambitious reform program, the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed plans to award telecommunications licenses to two private operators next year, and sell a minority stake in Ethio Telecom.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology, Telecommunications
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Does Facebook Need A Humanitarian Partner For Its New Digital Currency?
Libra, according to its website, wants to "reinvent" money by making a financial transaction as cheap and simple as "sending a text message or sharing a photo."
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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Vodacom Poised to Widen M-Pesa Availability
“We think it’s time to level the playing field and so it doesn’t matter how big your GSM base is, customers should be able to access our service,” he added. “We very much see M-Pesa becoming like an OTT service.”
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- fintech
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G7 Urges Tough Libra Regulation, Agrees to Tax Digital Giants
In a summary of the informal G7 talks in Chantilly, north of Paris, the French presidency said the ministers and governors had agreed that “stablecoins and other various new products currently being developed, including projects with global and potentially systemic footprint such as Libra, raise serious regulatory and systemic concerns”.
- Categories
- Finance
- Tags
- cryptocurrency, fintech, regulations
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Melinda Gates Pushes G7 to Close Digital Gender Gap in Africa
G7 finance ministers meeting in France are to endorse a paper from the Gates Foundation saying there is a serious risk that digital technology and mobile banking will bypass millions of women in Africa, leaving them disempowered for a generation.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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PayPal Fires up “Ripple-Killer” Xoom App for International Payments
The mobile payments app offers next-day money transfers at fees lower than its main payments platform PayPal. According to the website, transfers on Xoom cost around $4 in Europe and $9 to countries further afield.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Europe & Eurasia