[ti:Ethiopia Permits Mobile Banking and Money Services] [ar:] [al:Economics Report] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]From VOA Learning English, this is the Economics Report in Special English. [00:06.53]Ethiopia is one of the last countries in Africa to permit mobile banking. [00:13.22]Mobile banking has proved to be profitable in the developing world, [00:18.86]where many people still do not use banks. Earlier this year, [00:24.82]the World Bank reported that seventy-five percent of the world's poor are "unbanked." [00:32.32]That is about two point five billion people. [00:36.47]Banking through mobile telephones lets people take part in financial services [00:43.65]even if they are not near a bank office.In Africa, only Ethiopia and Zimbabwe [00:51.58]do not provide mobile money services. Now, that will change for Ethiopia. [01:00.52]BelCash and M-Birr are mobile banking technology providers. [01:06.92]They have been setting up mobile banking and mobile money services [01:12.56]in Ethiopia for the past three years. [01:15.66]Dutch company BelCash is working in partnership with banks to provide easier access [01:23.99]to financing through bank accounts. Ireland-based M-Birr is a mobile money service [01:32.39]that works with micro finance groups where no registration to a bank is needed. [01:39.53]Ethiopia's mobile industry is young. [01:43.44]And wireless service coverage in the country is not well developed. [01:49.28]The pressure on the wireless network is expected to increase. [01:55.38]In the past four years, [01:58.33]the number of mobile users grew from three to seventeen million. [02:04.07]And Ethiopia's telecommunications provider, [02:08.47]Ethio Telecom, expects that number to grow [02:13.18]to forty million in the next three years. [02:16.97]The government closely controls Ethiopia's telecommunications market. [02:23.06]That means there is only one provider. Competition is not permitted. [02:29.91]M-Birr General Manager Thierry Artaud says [02:34.82]Ethiopia's neighbors have several mobile providers. [02:38.77]"If you look at your neighbors, Kenya, Tanzania Uganda, [02:44.02]they all have multiple mobile operators and they all have mobile money services [02:49.01]and even multiple mobile money services." [02:51.46]He says, if Ethiopia had no restrictions, [02:55.10]his company would have to compete with larger companies. [02:59.16]Ethiopia has looked at other developing countries with mobile banking. [03:05.46]National Bank of Ethiopia officials visited Kenya, Pakistan and Brazil. [03:13.66]Frezer Ayalew is with the National Bank of Ethiopia. [03:18.85]He says mobile banking services will help the country. [03:23.50]"For the economy it has great contribution [03:26.84]in terms of mobilizing domestic savings with these services." [03:31.59]The National Bank of Ethiopia recently finished a draft order [03:36.78]on how mobile banking services should be structured. [03:40.38]This comes as more companies have shown interest in starting mobile banking services.