Asia is predicted to overtake Africa in mobile payment transactions, a newly released Gartner report has revealed.
Mobile transactions are predicted to be less than expected for the Africa, the Gartner report stated.
Estimated at US$160 billion by 2016, African mobile transactions will continue to experience strong growth.
However, the Asia/Pacific region will surpass the continent with 38 per cent growth in 2013 and an eventual market value of US$165 billion by 2016.
HumanIPO reported/a> in April Kenya’s hugely successful M-Pesa mobile money system had been launched in India.
North America is predicted to grow with 53 per cent, reaching US$37 million, while Western Europe is expected to hit US$29 billion in 2013.
Worldwide mobile transactions for 2013 are estimated at US$235.4 billion, marking a 44 per cent increase from 2012.
Sandy Shen, research director at Gartner, said: “We expect global mobile transaction volume and value to average 35 percent annual growth between 2012 and 2017.
“We are forecasting a market worth US$721 billion with more than 450 million users by 2017.”
Money transfers will make up for the majority of the transactions at 71 percent, while merchandise purchases are predicted to sit at 21 per cent.
Optimisation of mobile purchases, however, will be able to leverage numbers into full potential as they are currently unfulfilled, Gartner believes.
E-commerce sales still exceed mobile transactions and retail stores.
Value of money transfers will continue to rise because of frequency of transactions rather than large amounts.
Bill payment is forecasted to grow with 44 per cent in 2013 with consistent growth throughout, making out five per cent of income generated by 2017.
