Mobile Money interoperability will be launched on May 10, 2018 by the Vice President, Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia, which will allow funds transfer from one mobile money wallet to another wallet across networks.https://businessworldghana.com/dr-bawumia-launch-mobile-money-interoperability-may-10/
Though it has been welcomed with great expectations some experts say the move has its positives and negatives
Kojo Dougan, founder of BSS technology and partner at Interpay (an online payment platform), is one such person.
In an interview with Business World, Dougan explained that though the move will negatively affect businesses that have created apps to enable interoperability, yet it is the best so far in the history of Mobile Money as the advantages and the relief it brings to users cannot be over emphasized.
“It will affect them because now people don’t need any app to allow transaction.” But “for customers, it’s one of the best initiatives because it enables them to send money from one network to the other without having to bear high cost and the difficulties in having to cash out with token is also quashed.”
Mobile Money has played a vital role in the lives of millions of Ghanaians and the financial sector for the past years.
As at December 2017, the total value of mobile money transactions by over 23 million users reached GH¢155.8 billion,
Out of this, a total GH¢3.46 billion were sent into the vaults of banks and provided over 194,000 jobs across the country. This is according to data Bank of Ghana (BoG).
MTN had the largest share of the deposits with GH¢2.1 billion accounting for more than 90 percent, followed by AirtelTigo with GH¢79million representing 3.56 percent. Vodafone had a 2.52 percent of the market share, with GH¢57million deposits.
With competition rife, service providers have no option than to constantly discover avenues and ways to improve their services to garner a fair share of the bourgeoning market.
It is believed this interoperability being executed by the Bank of Ghana and the Ghana Interbank Payments and Settlements System will present a levelled playground for all.
However, critics say some service providers are bound to feel the downside of this move.
“Obviously some of the telecoms company with more customers will benefit more than others; there will be imbalances in terms of the number of transactions from one network to the other,” Dougan said.
“If telco A has a million customers and telco B has a thousand customers, the likelihood of it moving in one particular direction will be higher so there will definitely be a shift in terms of the direction, “he added.
Apart from some telcos losing out on customers, he raised concerns about who was going to bear the charges involved and how profits are going to be shared.
He further noted that some wallet platforms are going to be affected as this initiative crowds all their offer on one platform.
Observers say interoperability will open up the market for stiff competition within the telcos but others fear MTN may try to manipulate transactions on the platform to maintain its surging profits.
Pamela Ofori-Boateng/Business World Ghana