A Study on Factors Facilitating Access to Mobile Phone Money in Uganda

Abstract

The convergence of mobile telephony and financial services has the potential to significantly expand access to financial services to individuals at the base of the pyramid. In Uganda, roughly 80 percent of the population has no access to banking services and mobile phone money, a financial service and transaction made on a mobile phone could address this financial gap. The focus of this phenomenological study was to explore access to mobile phone money in Uganda, in particular, from the experiences of 4 mobile network operators, 8 network agents and 19 mobile phone money users in Kampala district. The question for this research was: What are the factors influencing access to mobile phone money in Uganda? The conceptual framework for this study was based on Kim and Mauborgue’s concept of Blue Ocean Strategy (Kim & Mauborgue, 2005). Key findings revealed that a wide network of agents was the most important factor for access to mobile phone money services. The most used mobile phone money service was transfer of money to relatives and friends. The main conclusion from this study is that mobile phone money has improved financial inclusion in Uganda as over 2 million adults who were previously unbanked are accessing financial services using their mobile phones.