MediaTel Mobile event: A future in mobile money

Mobile is expected to play an important role in the way people manage their money in the future, according to the panel at MediaTel Group’s Come on Mobile… Stand Up and Deliver! event last week.

Richard Johnson, chief strategy officer of monitise, talked about the opportunity for mobile money given that there are 5 billion mobiles worldwide and just 2 billion bank accounts.

Johnson said emerging markets have seen the fastest adoption to mobile money and used Russia as an example of having more advanced models, where telecommunication companies are managing transactions, not banks (the regulator has authorised $500 airtime spend).

However, the panel said m-commerce is at an “early stage of development” in the UK, although the view was that it would develop as the adoption and use of smartphones continues.

Johnson believes one day the market will see people using their mobiles for transactions, whether via airtime, a virtual account or their credit/debit card.

However, he complained of a lack of interest and progress from operators – which could benefit from offering airtime/billing as a payment method.

Marc Overton, VP of wholesale & M2M at Everything Everywhere, explained that customers could have a bank account with Orange and T-Mobile, and said ‘tap & pay’ capabilities (like a contact card) “will happen”.

However, Overton said it will take time to ensure the experience is up to scratch – and it will require ‘retraining’ people, not only customers but also businesses, staff and bankers.