Ethiopia Permits Mobile Banking and Money Services
November 16, 2012
Ethiopia is one of the few remaining African countries to introduce mobile banking.
From VOA Learning English, this is the Economics Report in Special English.
Ethiopia is one of the last countries in Africa to permit mobile banking.
Mobile banking has proved to be profitable in the developing world, where many people still do not use banks. Earlier this year, the World Bank reported that seventy-five percent of the world’s poor are “unbanked.” That is about two point five billion people. Banking through mobile telephones lets people take part in financial services even if they are not near a bank office.
In Africa, only Ethiopia and Zimbabwe do not provide mobile money services. Now, that will change for Ethiopia.
BelCash and M-Birr are mobile banking technology providers. They have been setting up mobile banking and mobile money services in Ethiopia for the past three years.
Dutch company BelCash is working in partnership with banks to provide easier access to financing through bank accounts. Ireland-based M-Birr is a mobile money service that works with micro finance groups where no registration at a bank is needed.
Ethiopia’s mobile industry is young. And wireless service coverage in the country is not well developed. The pressure on the wireless network is expected to increase.
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