GSMA Publish Handbook on Agent Networks: How to Build, Incentivise and Manage a Network of Mobile Money Agents
Posted: April 15th, 2010 | viewed: (1,808) | Comments: ( 2 ) | Topic: Agent Networks, Insight |
Over the last several years, distribution has proven one of the most difficult pieces of the mobile money business to get right. Even with the accumulated experience of distributing airtime in their markets-often through thousands of retailers-mobile network operators find the process of building a network of mobile money agents, incentivising them appropriately, and managing them to be fraught with difficulties. Indeed, from keeping agents liquid to deterring fraud, operators consistently rank issues related to agent networks as among their most vexing.
In response, the Mobile Money for the unbanked Team at the GSMA is today pleased to release the first instalment of a handbook for mobile network operators on building, incentivising, and managing networks of mobile money agents. This report is the product of six months of research into and analysis of the ways that mobile network operators and other providers of mobile money services approach distribution. It is designed to serve as a reference not only for operators that are just beginning to consider their distribution strategy, but also to those that are interested in benchmarking their approach against other alternatives.
Today, we are releasing an introduction to this handbook and the first section, entitled “Building a Network of Mobile Money Agents”. Between now and Mobile Money Summit, which is being held May 24-27 in Rio de Janeiro, the other two sections of the report will appear on this blog: “Incentivising Mobile Money Agents” and “Managing a Mobile Money Agent Network.” The complete handbook will de distributed in hard copy in Rio de Janeiro in May, accompanied by an article on agent network regulation.
Each section of this report is designed as a series of questions and answers, to make it as easy as possible to navigate. In the first section, we tackle basic questions like, “What do agents do?” and “How are agents recruited?” as well as more difficult ones, like “How big should an agent network be?” Among other topics, we discuss the pros and cons of using field registration agents; the optimum rate of agent network growth; and the benefits of an aggregator/ masteragent tier in mobile money distribution.
This report is the product of conversations with dozens of industry participants, and we are grateful to everyone who has shared their experiences with us. At the same time, we recognize that the mobile money industry is still young, and that all of the conclusions we draw in this report are at best provisional. So we look forward to hearing your feedback about this and future instalments in the comments section of this blog.
For the next chapter on how to incentivise a network of Mobile Money Agents, please follow the following link:
The document is available on our Agent Networks Page
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I love this and think its great – Mobile Money seems so open compared with previous financial channels. I hope to utilize this information as we begin working with mobile money services with our partners and customers. Thanks to the GSMA for providing this valuable information. It couldn’t have come at a better time. We are just releasing version 1.0 of our iPhone, BlackBerry, USSD, Symbian, and Android applications. We hope to be in attendance at the GSMA Mobile Money Summit!
Having been responsible for setting up the agent network for the most successful mobile money service to date, one thing that was clear and should be appreciated is that many times mobile money agents improve airtime penetration (the assumption made here is that airtime distribution always comes first, that’s not always correct). In certain rural markets, setting up mobile money agent business has been a better proposition to start with than airtime, only for the agent to complement MM business with airtime later, hence improving distribution [in addition to the fact that once one purchases e-value they many times are able to also buy airtime from the e-value]
With growth of MM agents, it is evident that the proportion of airtime retailers to the MM agents base continues to dwindle as other players are embraced into the ecosystem.