YOU ARE AT:AmericasLatam lagging behind in developing mobile payment services, Gartner says

Latam lagging behind in developing mobile payment services, Gartner says

Worldwide mobile payment users will surpass 141.1 million in 2011, a 38.2% increase from 2010, when mobile payment users reached 102.1 million, according to Gartner. Worldwide mobile payment volume is forecast to total US$ 86.1 billion, up 75.9% compared to 2010. However, despite these strong growth projections, Gartner points that the mobile payment market is growing slower than expected, and the Latin America region has been lagging behind in developing such kind of services.Gartner believes that there are rich opportunities for mobile payment services in the region, but said a stronger commitment and collaboration from banks and mobile carriers is needed to propel the service faster. “Regulators should also move quickly to clarify requirements, so that the service can be rolled out more quickly.”

Although Latam banks are willing to provide a multichannel service to their existing clients, several mobile payment services launched by banks and mobile carriers have seen a slow uptake. However, according to Gartner, the momentum started to pick up from late 2010 with a number of events, such as the earthquake in Haiti, which led to a couple of mobile payment services targeting the unbanked population.

Gartner also pointed to Telefonica‘s joint venture with MasterCard in January 2011 to provide mobile financial services to the carrier’s users in 12 Latin American countries. According to Gartner, this approach is different, because indicates a stronger commitment from both parties and may be a vehicle that connects the banking and telecom worlds.

Another event that Gartner highlighted was RegaloCard, a prepaid gift card issuer that is targeting Latino immigrants in the United States, enabling them to buy prepaid cards that can be activated via mobile phones, and which their relatives at home can use at participating merchants. The service is operational in El Salvador and Guatemala, and is expanding to Mexico and Honduras.

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ABOUT AUTHOR

Roberta Prescott
Roberta Prescott
Editor, Americasrprescott@rcrwireless.com Roberta Prescott is responsible for Latin America reporting news and analysis, interviewing key stakeholders. Roberta has worked as an IT and telecommunication journalist since March 2005, when she started as a reporter with InformationWeek Brasil magazine and its website IT Web. In July 2006, Prescott was promoted to be the editor-in-chief, and, beyond the magazine and website, was in charge for all ICT products, such as IT events and CIO awards. In mid-2010, she was promoted to the position of executive editor, with responsibility for all the editorial products and content of IT Mídia. Prescott has worked as a journalist since 1998 and has three journalism prizes. In 2009, she won, along with InformationWeek Brasil team, the press prize 11th Prêmio Imprensa Embratel. In 2008, she won the 7th Unisys Journalism Prize and in 2006 was the editor-in-chief when InformationWeek Brasil won the 20th media award Prêmio Veículos de Comunicação. She graduated in Journalism by the Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Campinas, has done specialization in journalism at the Universidad de Navarra (Spain, 2003) and Master in Journalism at IICS – Universidad de Navarra (Brazil, 2010) and MBA – Executive Education at the Getulio Vargas Foundation.