AS Nigeria forges ahead in becoming a global economic player through her Vision 20:2020 project and for ICT to stand as a catalyst to the realisation of this goal, experts are canvassing for the full exploration of the mobile commerce initiatives. ADEYEMI ADEPETUN reports.PAYMENTS have been evolving for hundreds of years. From the age-old bartering system, to cash, to cheque, to electronic forms of payment, people have found innovative and more efficient ways to make payment. This evolution has resulted in a significant shift in the current mix of consumer payments: from primarily paper-based (cash or cheque) to increasingly electronic (credit, debit and pre-paid) payment methods.The rate of change and the movement to electronic payments have been accelerated by the explosive growth of payments being made in non face-to face transactions. A key development in the industry was the emergence of the Internet as a channel for commerce. Consumers who previously used the Internet as a novelty and a means for information gathering have gradually adopted this channel for their purchase decisions and transactions.For the purpose of definition, mobile commerce is how retailers and sellers of content, products and services use the mobile medium to acquire and retain customers by encouraging transactions on mobile phones, as well as by driving traffic to retail stores, catalogs, the wired web or other channels.A recent report by Edgar Dunn and Company, an international management consultants, revealed that presently in the United States, online retail transactions reached $175 billion in 2007 and will grow to $335 billion by 2012. It linked the growth in this channel to advances in technology, trusted infrastructure and applications, and improved customer experience and payment choice.To telecoms analyst in Nigeria, the countrys e-revolution and economic goals would only be achieved if the power of ICT is fully explored, stressing that, the m-Commerce initiative, which runs on the platforms of mobile banking and mobile payments and transfers, remains a vivid channel for the countrys quest for development.Accordingly, mobile banking refers to situations where the mobile phone is used as an access channel to financial services, while mobile payments and money transfers refers to situations where the mobile phone is used as a payment device to affect the transfer of value from one party to another.In Nigeria, Mobile banking has gained attraction and there has been rapid expansion in deployment of applications as well as an increase in the number of mobile banking users, with operators in killing contest to woo customers with different packages. This process essentially allows banking customers to check balances, transfer funds, receive alerts, reduce congestions in banking halls among others.Before now, banking customers have had to use a landline phone to obtain account balances or make transfers, or worse yet, had to physically go to a branch or an ATM. Mobile banking provides ease, accessibility and convenience for customers, in addition to portability, security, and enhanced functionality such as alerts to enable more proactive banking services.More interesting is how the mobile phone is being used beyond mobile banking to affect the transfer of value from one party to another. There is potential for enormous transaction volume that could be initiated via the mobile phone, and this transaction volume could translate into significant revenue opportunities for operators and rub off well on the countrys economic potentials.According to Edgar Dunn and Company, growth in this market will be driven by several key factors, including: growth in the number of mobile subscribers, the increasing versatility of the mobile device, continued rollout of contactless acceptance terminals, and breadth of income segments and geographic locations gaining access to mobile technology.To experts in Nigeria, with mobile subscribers now in excess of 85 million, by the Nigerian Communications Commissions recent statistics, and with over 9,000 ATMs currently transacting businesses to the tune of over N80 billion monthly, while the over 13,000 PoS terminals currently attract monthly revenue of N1.4 billion, there is ample room for growth of mobile commerce in the country, especially when the potential for the deployment of over 55,000 ATMs in the country still exists, with available industry data revealing it will require over 65,000 ATMs to adequately serve over 150 million Nigerians.To a Mobile Money Expert in Nigeria, Toyin Smith, similar to the rise of the Internet, the emergence and adoption of the mobile phone as a payment instrument will be the next big transformation in the payments industry provided that a working business model, healthy collaboration between industry players and convincing value proposition can be established.There is potential that the ability to use the mobile phone to initiate payments will forever change the way consumers approach commerce, particularly in underdeveloped and developing countries where the application of the mobile phone provides significant ease, convenience, and safety compared to existing payment alternatives. Given this imminent shift in payment behaviour and the potential opportunity, the investments in mobile payments initiatives are not surprising, he stressed.Already, the Central Bank of Nigeria, under the leadership of Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi has licensed 16 operators to jump-start the mobile payments system in Nigeria. They include; UBA Group; Monitise, GTBank, Ecobank, IBTC Stanbic Bank, First Bank, ETB and Fortis Microfinance Bank.The rest are independent operators: Corporetti Support Services, Hendomark, Pagatech and Eartholeum.Experts, have however, stressed that for mobile commerce to thrive in Nigeria, there is need for infrastructure upgrade, legislations among others.In the words of Emmanuel Okoegwale, Principal Associate, Mobile Money Africa, mobile commerce will help government to drive transparency in providing certain services like poverty alleviation, which is one of the main thrust of government. He said the ability to pay anytime and anywhere will also drive local and international commerce, which Nigerians are still grappling to be part of.Okoegwale noted that financial inclusion, which had eluded millions of Nigerians will also be a possibility with the advent of mobile financial services.Having access to formal financial services opens the vista to many other opportunities and this basic access had eluded millions of Nigerians till date. Only 28 million Nigerians out of an addressable adult population of 70 has access to formal financial services till date. In this case, how do these excluded millions contribute to Nigerias quest to becoming a global economic player when they cant engage in many channels of commerce like their counterparts elsewhere in the world To be globally competitive, you need the tools that the high ranking countries are actively deploying, he stated.Besides, Okoegwale said that mobile commerce is actually a mind shift from cash-based transactional channels to the mobile, which requires education and information, It requires very rigorous regulatory supervision or else we will start witnessing predatory and unfriendly pricing of services, rogue operations, which has commenced as we speak now and a well connected agent network.But to Smith, business relationships, connectivity, and technology applications are needed between operators in order to bring flexibility to the consumer, stressing it remains the cornerstone needed for the success of mobile commerce. He noted that this will ultimately require orchestration to bring the operators together and also manage the complexity of the mobile commerce ecosystem.Orchestration could be achieved with the development of multiple mobile money transfer hubs, he stated.To the former President, Nigeria Internet Group, Lanre Ajayi, there is no reason why online services should not strive in Nigeria, despite frauds, including cybercrimes being committed.Ajayi, who disagreed with reports indicting Nigeria as a major country where online crimes thrive, argued that cybercrimes are obtainable in every country and that Nigerias situation is not as sophisticated as it is in other developed countries where almost all their businesses are online and large-scale online criminal activities are committed daily.Core criminalities are not even being perpetrated in Nigeria and we have not reached the level by which people are attracted to hacking our systems because we dont even have many of our business online anyway, he said.Lanre, therefore called for adequate legislation for boosting e-commerce in Nigeria in order to build confidence in business people from other countries to do business with Nigerians.Corroborating former NIGs presidents claims, Dr. Nnaemeka Eweluka, senior teaching fellow in International Trade Law, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London,while presenting a paper at the recently held Nigeria Digital Sense forum, noted that the emergence of adequate legislations would boost m-Commerce in the country.According to him, Nigeria has travelled far along the road to e-commerce and m-Commerce and is currently at a critical stage, the Federal Government recognises the need for a stable legal framework for electronic transactions in the country as this is clearly reflected in Nigerias IT policyIt is therefore important that one of the current legislative bills aimed at ensuring a stable legal framework for online transactions should be enacted before the end of the current parliament. Also, one of the legislative bills regarding computer misuse and cybercrime should be enacted into law without further delay. Any loss of e-Commerce potential by Nigeria on account of an inadequate legal framework will undoubtedly be a gain for Ghana and other African countries that have enacted e-Commerce and cybercrime laws and are thus in a better legal position to protect those transacting online business within their jurisdictions. This should not be allowed to happen.If the Federal Government is unable or unwilling to enact a law that accords legal validity to electronic transactions, state governments could take up the challenge and undertake law reform at the state level aimed at enacting laws that recognise the validity and legality of various forms and applications of electronic data, including signatures, writing and communication, he stated.
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