[kictanet] The reality of Mobile Money interoperability is finally here

[Ahmed Mohamed Maawy]

Totally agree with you Mr. Ali.

This is the one major reason why M-Pesa has not "scaled" and innovated
enough. The fact that we tend to believe that its competitive advantage is
gained from the fact that its not meant to be inter operable. And that is a
very wrong notion in the .com era.

IMHO Safaricom has lost out on a lot of opportunities from M-Pesa just by
being put into a square box in terms of not only scale, but scope of
innovation.

On Sat, Jan 20, 2018 at 7:12 AM, Ali Hussein via kictanet <
kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:

> Listers
>
> Interesting development. The Telco sector with policy push from MOICT is
> finally testing interoperability of Mobile Money across Networks. This is a
> step in the right direction. This list has long advocated for this. It is
> gratifying to see that this is happening now. Kudos to MOICT and CS Mucheru
> for pushing this through. Kudos to the telcos for making it happen.
>
> I'm however curious as to the headline of the story:-
>
> Mobile Money deal spells doom to M-Pesa
> <https://businesstoday.co.ke/mobile-money-deal-spells-doom-m-pesa/>
>
> Interoperability may very well cement and increase M-Pesa's dominance in
> the space. This battle is not going to be won on the promise of withdrawing
> and sending money. Increasingly people want convenience beyond cash-outs
> and peer to peer transfers. The players who will win are those who
> understand and execute the following:-
>
> 1. Super Focus on the customer
> 2. A one stop shop Virtual Bank - Payments, deposits, savings etc.
> 3. Brand Equity built on the principle that the customer ALWAYS comes
> first.
>
> My sense is that the interoperability 'promise' for laggard brands will go
> the way of the Number Porting Promise. There is no short cut to succeeding
> in business and serving your customer with excellence. For those expecting
> the government to help them vanquish their business rivals they have a long
> way to wait..
>
> The winner here is the customer. The price for the telcos and other mobile
> money service provider is that you now have a level playing field.. Sort
> of.. :-)
>
>
> *Ali Hussein*
>
> *Principal*
>
> *Hussein & Associates*
>
>
>
> Tel: +254 713 601113
>
> Twitter: @AliHKassim
>
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>
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-- 
*Ahmed Maawy*
Head of Corporate Products - Al Jazeera Media Network
Skype: ultimateprogramer
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