UN report highlights Afghanistan’s mobile money stumbling blocks

Thursday, April 4, 2019

By Chris Donkin

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) pointed to the need for collaboration between rival operators, regulatory changes and initiatives to boost slow mobile money uptake in Afghanistan.

In a report into the country’s prospects for digital trade, released to coincide with an international conference on e-commerce, UNCTAD said since the launch of the country’s first mobile money service by Roshan and Vodafone in 2008, uptake had been “slower than expected.”

By the end of 2017, less than one per cent of SIM cards had an associated mobile money account, with the first-to-market venture M-Paisa commanding an 85 per cent market share. Services are also provided by Etisalat’s mHawala and Afghan Wireless brand MyMoney.

Photo courtesy of Institute for Money, Technology and Financial Inclusion.

Source: Mobile World Live (link opens in a new window)

Categories
Finance, Technology
Tags
digital finance, financial inclusion, mobile finance