[governance] Web payments

[michael gurstein]

 A problem is that in most countries in Sub-Saharan Africa even mobile
penetration is only in the 20-30% range in rural areas (South Africa and
maybe Kenya being the exception)--with most countries again having a very
substantial rural majority. The effective abandonment of these folks by
those chasing the magpie glitter of mpesa and the digital glare of mobile
apps is one of the stories that should (but probably won't) be told at WSIS.


M

-----Original Message-----
From: governance-request at lists.igcaucus.org
[mailto:governance-request at lists.igcaucus.org] On Behalf Of McTim
Sent: Tuesday, April 16, 2013 1:46 PM
To: Ian Peter
Cc: governance at lists.igcaucus.org; Norbert Bollow
Subject: Re: [governance] Web payments

On Tue, Apr 16, 2013 at 4:19 PM, Ian Peter <ian.peter at ianpeter.com> wrote:
> interesting, I didn't know that.  In my country a bank account is a 
> lot cheaper than a mobile phone or internet access.


If you need to spend many hours traveling to a bank AND are too poor to pay
fees/have an initial deposit, etc, opening a bank account has many hurdles.

A mobile phone that can text is all you need, these are pretty cheap in most
of Africa.


>
> So where does bitcoin fit into this sort of equation? And is the 
> mobile money bank related or non bank related? (not all paypal I 
> hope...)


none of it is paypal.  I doubt bitcoin fits into any current mobile money
equation.

mobile money is just that, you load it onto your phone (like "airtime")
using a local agent and can transfer it via SMS/app to a bank account/phone
number/school, etc.

--
Cheers,

McTim
"A name indicates what we seek. An address indicates where it is. A route
indicates how we get there."  Jon Postel



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