Worldwide mobile payment transaction values will this year surpass US$171.5 billion, according to a report by Gartner, world’s leading information technology research and advisory company.
This indicates a 61.9 percent increase from $105.9 billion last year.
The report further states that mobile payment users will reach 212.2 million in 2012, up from 160.5 million in 2011.
Commenting on the report released yesterday, Sandy Shen, research director at Gartner, said global mobile transaction volume and value is expected to average 42 percent annual growth between 2011 and 2016 “and we are forecasting a market worth $617 billion with 448 million users by 2016.”
This is projected to bring opportunities for service and solution providers looking to cater to the local demand patterns to customize their offerings.
The report not only sees a boom in the value transacted but also a build-up of fragmented services and solutions in the mobile payments sector by 2014, Shen explained.
The Gartner report emphasizes that technology providers will have to supply the solutions to the local market, which is expected to use different access technologies, business models and partners, and under different regulatory conditions.
Shen also hopes that few global players will play dominant role in this market as mobile payments need localized solutions by local players who understand the unique needs of their community.
In Africa’s developing economies, Shen stands strong for SMS solutions since it is readily accessible than the Web or WAP.
Mobile money transfer services have taken root since the advent of M-pesa, Kenya’s mobile money, in 2007 to the rest of the continent and across the world. At present, Africa has some 500 million mobile phone subscribers with a majority of the population unbanked.
In North America and Western Europe, mobile Internet is however readily available and activated on user devices. Gartner expects Web or WAP access to account for about 88 percent and about 80 percent of total transactions in North America and Western Europe respectively by 2016.
According to the report, Near Field Communication (NFC) transactions will pick up steadily from 2016.
The developed block will see the use of mobile transaction in merchandise purchases like e-commerce purchases where users buy online, as well as in-store purchases.
This is is attributed to the developed e-tailers such as Amazon and eBay with secure e-stores than in the developing world.
And as Starbucks’ Card Mobile app rolls out nationwide in the U.S, Gartner expects a large number of merchants to introduce their own mobile payment services.
The developing block will see the uptake of money transfer and airtime top-up build up due to its safety while ticketing and parking services will follow.
According to the report, Africa tops all regions in mobile money transaction value throughout the forecast period, benefiting from a higher proportion of money transfer transactions that have higher value per transaction than other use cases.
Africa and Asia pacific combined add up to the highest transaction volume and are expected to account for more than 60 percent of the global mobile payments volume in 2016.
