By 01/12/2011 00:00:00
MTN Nigeria has faulted the regulatory framework of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on the implementation of mobile payment system.
Mobile payment or m-payment is a point-of-sale payment made from or via a mobile device. Using m-payment, a person with a mobile phone could pay for goods and services without interacting with a human.
The CBN regulatory framework for operating the system identifies three major models for its implementation. They are bank-focused model, which can only be deployed by a licensed deposit-taking financial institution and bank-led model, where a bank or a consortium of banks, in partnership with other organisations, jointly delivers banking services.
The third is a non-bank-led model which allows a corporate organisation, other than a licensed deposit money bank and telecommunications companies, to deliver mobile payment services.
Speaking at a capacity-building seminar in Lagos, a regulatory official at MTN, Kassim Odumbaku said though the CBN's regulatory framework expressly excludes Telcos from leadership of mobile payment implementation, MTN has provided the necessary technological platform and made substantial investments towards the achievement of a robust, dynamic and secure mobile payment system in Nigeria.
Odumbaku noted that in other countries where m-payments have been successfully deployed, Telcos took the lead role.
He said: "In Kenya, Safaricom, a Telco, launched M-PESA in 2007 after two years of trial. M-PESA is so far, the most successful mobile payment product with over 25 per cent of Kenya's population registered for the service. It now has over 10 million users and transfers about $350million per month.
"In the Philippines, SMART, a Telco launched the 'Padala' in 2004. The service now has about seven million wallets representing seven per cent penetration.
"In Uganda, MTN launched the mobile money service in 2009. Within a year, the service recorded over 500,000 mobile money accounts.
"Vodacom in Tanzania too launched the M-Pesa service in 2008 and in mid-2010, about one million accounts had been opened.
"Nigeria has the potential of being the largest mobile payment market in Africa if stakeholders take the opportunity to review the current framework, so as to more fully enhance the capability of the telecom industry to play its natural role in the delivery of efficient mobile payment services, leveraging on technological infrastructure and distribution chain."
The CBN, in the framework, said while it appreciates the critical role of the Telcos in all of the models for the implementation of mobile payments services in Nigeria, the Telcos are explicitly excluded from leading any such models for the following reasons: ensuring that the regulatory gaps/lapses that could occur with a telecom organisation running a mobile payments solution is nullified till a time when the regulatory issues between the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and CBN are regulated.
"To ensure openness and interoperability via monitoring that the Telcos concentrate on their area of core competence as mobile operators (carriers of traffic) and not attempt to become payment service providers.
"To ensure that larger networks are not given undue advantage based on their wide coverage, thereby excluding other payment service providers from access to their customer base; also to ensure that all mobile payments traffic are given equal priority during transmission by the Telcos without prejudice to their own consumer-generated traffic."
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