Published by: http://www.finmark.org.za

Africa is the fastest growing mobile phone market in the world. Over the past five years the continent’s mobile phone use has increased at an annual rate of 65%, almost double that of the rest of the world. The subscriber base in 2006 was estimated at 152 million users. This rapid spread means that the number of users may already exceed the number of banked people in many low-income countries. This implies that increasing access to financial services by using mobile phones may have transformational effects.