Publication:

OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES OF MOBILE MONEY INTEROPERABILITY IN MALAWI

Mobile Money technology has revolutionised Mobile Money Interoperability (MMI). To date, there is limited knowledge on specific opportunities and challenges of MMI. Preliminary research has revealed that Malawi experienced dawdling movements towards the adoption of MMI and agent level interoperability has not been achieved yet. The study therefore explored the opportunities and challenges of MMI platforms that enhance or hinders the adoption of mobile money transfer across mobile money service providers, including banks in Malawi using a combination of Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Technology Organization Environmental (TOE) with some modification to guide the research. An exploratory concurrent triangulation mixed research approach was utilised and data was collected from purposefully selected mobile money users, agents and employees of Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and banks in Blantyre and Limbe. The research findings also showed that Malawi adopted MMI in 2014 with Airtel Money as the pace setter. However, most users in Malawi are not aware of the existence of the innovation. The research revealed that Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), financial institutions, mobile money users and regulatory authorities are the perceived key players for the adoption of MMI while platform provider and mobile money agents, retailers and billers are not. The current mobile money platforms are negatively affecting ‘Usability’ and ‘Accessibility’ of mobile money services and that MMI may create both positive and negative network effects for mobile money business. The research recommends for a need to fully adopt MMI, propose regulatory authorities to advance viable commercial model options for interoperability solution as it will help unveil the barriers towards the adoption of MMI. This will allow the nation to benefit from the untapped opportunities of mobile money interoperability.