Operators looking to increase ARPU and reduce churn during these challenging economic times would be well advised to launch mobile money services, to judge from the findings of a recent report from CGAP and the GSMA. The ‘Mobile Money Market Sizing Study’ claims that mobile money user ARPU is 74 percent higher than non-user ARPU, with unbanked users on average spending US$9.4 per month and non-users spending US$5.4 per month in the Philippines. In addition, it is forecast that mobile money has the potential to deliver up to US$5 billion in direct revenues for mobile operators by 2012, on the basis that up to 364 million unbanked customers will have adopted mobile money services in that timeframe. Security concerns also appear to be less of an obstacle to commercial success than perhaps previously thought, with 90 percent of users surveyed stating that they feel their money is safe when handled via mobile.

The mobile payment market has gathered momentum in the last year, with a number of high-profile launches of mobile money transfer services in multiple markets, participation of major global institutions in Near Field Communication (NFC) payment trials, as well as new payment solutions entering the sector. Later this month the Mobile Business Briefing team will be reporting live from the GSMA Mobile Money Summit 2009 in Barcelona, Spain. The team will be producing two online Show Dailies; to receive the newsletters and be the first to learn of the biggest mobile money stories, simply register your details here.