Mobile networks expand African card payments

NAIROBI – Africa’s boom in mobile phone networks has given a boost to electronic payment systems, but the infrastructure for data transmission still lags far behind other regions, Visa International said yesterday.

“About 11 years ago, we were just hoping the landline infrastructure was going to improve. I think we now have a real viable alternative,” Visa’s senior vice president for sub-Saharan Africa, Rob Clark, told a news conference.”The deployment of mobile networks that we’ve seen across nearly every sub-Saharan African country will allow us to piggyback on that and to use those networks to ensure that we can have fast secure, reliable transactions,” he added.Clark said sub-Saharan Africa was undergoing fast growth in terms of card numbers, usage and money spent, but progress was hindered by poor landline systems, the high cost of installing new technology, the huge numbers of people without bank accounts and widespread poverty.Visa is the world’s leading payment system with more than 1,5 billion cards issued.Clark was in Kenya to mark the country’s one-million-card milestone.Card numbers in Kenya, most of them debit cards, rose to 1 155 061 cards by the end of June 2006 from 828 937 at the end of June 2005, he said, while expenditure has risen to US$153 million from US$110 million.”With the GSM networks out there, and in particular in Kenya, the fact that there are GPRS networks out there, you can put through a transaction in three seconds, reliably, securely and in a cost effective manner,” Clark said.Nampa-ReutersI think we now have a real viable alternative,” Visa’s senior vice president for sub-Saharan Africa, Rob Clark, told a news conference.”The deployment of mobile networks that we’ve seen across nearly every sub-Saharan African country will allow us to piggyback on that and to use those networks to ensure that we can have fast secure, reliable transactions,” he added.Clark said sub-Saharan Africa was undergoing fast growth in terms of card numbers, usage and money spent, but progress was hindered by poor landline systems, the high cost of installing new technology, the huge numbers of people without bank accounts and widespread poverty.Visa is the world’s leading payment system with more than 1,5 billion cards issued.Clark was in Kenya to mark the country’s one-million-card milestone.Card numbers in Kenya, most of them debit cards, rose to 1 155 061 cards by the end of June 2006 from 828 937 at the end of June 2005, he said, while expenditure has risen to US$153 million from US$110 million.”With the GSM networks out there, and in particular in Kenya, the fact that there are GPRS networks out there, you can put through a transaction in three seconds, reliably, securely and in a cost effective manner,” Clark said.Nampa-Reuters