Mobile Payments: A Comparison between Philippine and Ugandan Contexts

Abstract

This paper maintains that mobile phone payments present a significant opportunity to integrate more users within Uganda's financial system. Besides enabling services that can improve the performance of small businesses, mobile payments afford an opportunity to integrate more users within the traditional banking system at a reasonable cost. In order to evolve a successful model and realise these benefits, Uganda can learn from the Philippines, a developing country with arguably the most successful and widespread use of mobile payments in the world. Action areas include reviewing the national policy and legal environment, building capacity and collaboration amongst multiple regulatory agencies, and the need to be accommodative of as many stakeholders as possible. This will create a truly national system that can leverage the projected growth of the mobile phone market and bring benefits to the general population.