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JOURNAL OF INFORMATION POLICY 4 (2014): 270-295.
BY JOSEPH KARIUKI NYAGA
Should regulators require interconnection and interoperability between mobile money networks? Yes, asserts the author, using the five-nation East African Community (EAC) as a case study. Challenges to policy harmonization are posed by different legal and regulatory systems in the EAC Member States; as well as different business models, technologies, functionalities, and forms of mobile money. With few models on which to draw, the EAC must find a way to address the convergence of the telecommunications and financial sectors to enable maximum benefits from mobile banking, especially for the poor.
INTRODUCTION
This article addresses the issues affecting mobile money in the East African Community (EAC), where mobile phones are used to transfer more than half a billion dollars every month. The number of mobile phone users in the EAC has long exceeded the number of people with bank accounts, adding to the convenience and popularity of mobile money. The purpose of this article is therefore to demonstrate the need for the EAC to address issues relating to telecommunications and financial regulation to ensure that mobile money services bring the desired benefits, especially to the poor. In doing so, the article provides an analysis and comparison of the different platforms currently on offer in the various EAC Member States. The article analyzes the legislative and regulatory environment in which mobile money operates and how it has shaped the emerging models and services. Attention is given to the different regulatory frameworks in which the respective systems operate. Based on this analysis, the article draws lessons and makes recommendations in terms of legislative and regulatory frameworks geared towards the increasing adoption and use of mobile money. The article seeks to answer the question: What are the effective legislative and regulatory responses to mobile money services in the East African Community?
All the EAC Member States have active mobile payment and mobile money initiatives currently underway; but, as less-developed and lower-income nations they come from different starting points and face different issues. The aim of this article is to provide a useful tool for regulators and mobile money providers in the EAC to engage the issue more effectively. This article provides an analysis of
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