Economics Report - Mobile Banking in Ethiopia

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17	Africa	From	M-Birr	National	Special	That	The	VOA	are
be	do	groups	how	international	lets	mobile	number	program
reported	technology	that	the	there	to	wireless	years

VOA Learning English, this is the Economics Report in EnglishE thiopia is one of the last countries in to permit mobile banking. Mobile banking has proved to profitable in the developing world, where many people still not use banks. Earlier this year, the World Bank that 75 percent of the world's poor are ".unbanked." is about 2.5 billion people. Banking through mobile phones people take part in financial services even if they not near a bankUntil recently, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe were only nations in Africa without mobile money services. Now, has changed for EthiopiaBelCash and M-Birr are mobile banking providers. They have been setting up mobile banking and money services in Ethiopia for the past three years. Dutch company BelCash is working in partnership with banks provide easier access to financing through bank accounts. Ireland-based is a mobile money service that works with microfinance where no registration with a bank is needed. Ethiopia's phone industry is young. And wireless service coverage in country is not well developed. The pressure on the network is expected to increase. In the past four , the number of mobile users grew from three to million. And Ethiopia's telecommunications provider, Ethio Telecom, expects that to grow to 40 million in the next three . The government closely controls Ethiopia's telecommunications market. That means is only one provider. Competition is not permitted. The Bank of Ethiopia recently finished a draft order on mobile banking services should be structured. This comes as companies have shown interest in starting mobile banking servicesFor Learning English, I'm Carolyn Presutti. (Adapted from a radio broadcast 16Nov2012)

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