The role of mobile telecommunications technologies in expanding financial inclusion in the unbanked populations

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Table of Contents

CHAPTER: PROJECT PLAN3

Introduction3

Background3

Problem statement4

Aims and objectives4

Theoretical framework4

Time frame8

References9

CHAPTER: PROJECT PLAN

Introduction

A unique situation exists with respect to the use of mobile phones worldwide. Although mobile phones were first deployed in the United States the use of mobile phone-based financial services, such as the ability to transfer a cash payment to another mobile phone user, is expanding much more rapidly in South Africa than in the United States. Individuals across the world execute billions of dollars in financial transactions every year, with a large proportion of these exchanges being facilitated by credit cards, debit cards, or cash (Calder 1977 353). However, a different method of performing financial transactions is emerging: using a mobile phone to transfer a payment to another mobile-phone user. Expanding the use of mobile-phone-based payment systems in both developed and developing countries could increase the accessibility of money for individual transactions, and this increase could have a net positive impact on the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in countries such as the United States.

Background

Over 4 billion mobile phones are in use across the world in the early part of the twenty-first century, each with Internet access. Of the 1billion PCs in use, however, only a portion has Internet access. Many of these new financial services are presently available only on devices like PCs which have Internet access, and poorer people worldwide who do not have access to PCs are being further excluded (Chan 2004 12).

Problem statement

The purpose of this comparative qualitative ethnographic study was to determine whether utilizing the mobile phone as the primary device for mobile financial transactions can bring significant new utility to mobile-phone users. In the early part of the twenty-first century over 4 billion mobile phones are in use worldwide, and they are carried everywhere, as contrasted with the only 1 billion personal computers (Chau 2001 26).

Aims and objectives

The research has the following aims and objective

To get in-depth idea about mobile banking

To get an idea how unbanked people respond to mobile banking

To identify the barriers to use mobile banking in the unbanked population

Research question

The research aims to answer the following question

What is mobile banking?

How unbanked people respond to mobile banking?

What are the barriers to use mobile banking?

Theoretical framework

Only in the United States alone, there are about two million families which are unbanked. There are several reasons for their unbanked condition. The most important factor due to which they are unbanked is their yearly income. The total annual income of these unbanked families in the United States is not even twenty five thousand dollars. Due to the low income, these people are unable to go to banks and do the banking.

Usually the term unbanked is used to refer to people who don't get involved in the country or economic banking system. There are various reasons due to which they don't use the banking system. The people who don't have the saving or checking account are called unbanked in literal ...