The Cyberseries of November 1, 2007 sought to discuss among other things:
• What mobile technologies are available presently in Ghana
• How subscribers can use the mobile phone to their greater benefit
• Whether or not the consumer is getting any satisfaction from the mobile operators in Ghana; and
• What challenges face mobile operators in Ghana and how they are being resolved.

First to mount the podium was Alex Abio (representing MTN) who spoke on “The MTN story”. MTN is the leading African telecommunications company. Established in SA in 1993, Ghana operation joined MTN Group following acquisition of Investcom in July,2006. He said that MTN operates in 21 countries in the emerging markets of Africa and the Middle East, and currently serves over 48 million subscribers.

Alex gave Some facts about Mobile Industry in Africa as follows:
 
 In 2006, Growth of 45% positioned Africa as fastest-growing region ahead of Middle East(30%),Asia-Pacific(28%)
 Cellular connections passed 200 million mark in Q1.2007
 Market growth driven mainly by deployment of GSM networks &changes in market dynamics (regulation, politics)
He went further to give information about the mobile industry in Africa-Regional Market thus

 North Africa experienced 40% growth in 2006
 Algeria is biggest market accounting for 35% of total connections
 Cellular connections estimated to top 25m &penetration at 80% by Q4 ’07
 West Africa enjoyed 75% growth in 2006
 Nigeria is biggest market with about 27%penetration
 Central Africa enjoyed 60% growth in 2007 at 20% penetration
 East Africa enjoyed 50% growth in 2006
 Market penetration to reach 20% by end 2007
 Southern Africa enjoyed 22% growth in 2006
 Market penetration @ 80% by end 2007
 SA is biggest market

In making a case for Emerging Technologies, Alex said

 Emerging technologies constitute one of key industry differentiators
 Situation fueled by increasingly sophisticated subscribers
 Short Product life-cycles
 Increasing players in most mobile markets (Ghana boasts 4-players,more expected to enter)

Alex went further to give instances of Some Emerging Technologies as follows:

3-G
 Third Generation mobile phone standards and technology
 Will provide faster data speeds and overall voice capacity
 MTN has presently deployed same in SA, Sudan ,Syria and Cyprus

Blackberry
 Wireless handheld device capable of sending and receiving e-mails
 Supports telephony services like text messaging, web browsing etc

Dynamic Tarifing
• Service that allows operator to offer attractive discounts to subscribers on under-utilized cells
• Traffic control feature that offers flexibility of charging discounted rates on under-used cells and premium rates when there is congestion

Instant Messaging
• (IM),real-time, communication between two or more parties based on typed-text
• Text is conveyed via computers connected over a network such as the internet
• Attractive to youthful market
• Threat to SMS revenues

DVB-H(Digital Video Broadcasting-Handheld)
 Technical specification for implementing broadcast services to handheld receivers

Wimax (World Interoperability for Microwave Access)
 Telecomms technology that provides wireless data at greater speeds(70Mbps) over long distances
 Attractive Option for rural areas, often deprived of broadband internet access

GSMA’s Expatriate Mobile Money Transfer Initiative
 Service tapping into extensive usage of mobiles to enable migrants transfer money to dependants

In concluding, Alex was of the view that Low mobile penetration rates, regulation environment, Political enablement across many countries, and increasing competition within many countries in the region, means Ghana will continue to leverage the benefits of mobile telephony for development, specifically in the areas of :

• Strengthening social networks
• Enhancing businesses; and
• Improving access to  information

The second speaker Mr. George Baba Femi from E-transact broke his presentation into the following ambits:

• Overview of eTranzact Products
• Mobile Commerce
• Bill Presentment & Payment
• CorporatePAY
• PAYOutlet
• WEBPayment
• Card Products
• RechargeAfrica.com
• Conclusion

On the Overview of ePayment George said that the global payment industry has experienced tremendous changes influenced largely by technology advancements, a more sophisticated customer base and the high rate of global economic growth and the formerly cash-based economies have since moved into diversified payment systems:
• Cash
• Cheques
• Cards
• Electronic payments (internet banking, mobile, PC, PDA’s, internet, iTV e.t.c)

Mobile Commerce: The eTranzact Mobile Alert

This he said, enables confirmation to be sent to owners of any eTranzact enabled account in the bank; Confirmations are immediately sent to the customer once a transaction occurs on the account both by email and SMS. He further explained that there are Customizable options for Debit and/or Credit Alerts, and Customizable options for SMS alerts for for amounts above a particular figure or for all amounts.

Bill Presentation and Payment: The eTranzact Bill Payment

Here, he said that various Options/Outlets are available for Bills payment – Web or Mobile phones:
• Realtime crediting of Utility companies accounts when payment is made via mobile or the web.
• Single sign-on to view all transactions from different channels
• Direct integrations to utility companies’ back-end for realtime customers account update.
• PayOutlet to handle all cash transactions through various banks’ branches.
• Payment can be made from merchants’ portal or through the banks’ portal.

VALUE OF ETRANSACT BILL PAYMENT:

To the public:
• Ability to transact without carrying cash
• Cases of Theft and armed robberies are reduced
• Secured means of transferring or receiving funds
• Transfers can be done securely via the mobile phone, making it easy to access bank account as at when needed.
• More reasons to put money in banks – especially because easy access is guaranteed.
To Banks:
• Increase in float income
• Commission Earning on every Transaction going through the eTranzact platform
• Extension of service and collection using other eTranzact member Bank Branch network.
• Other value Added services like Internet banking, Mobile Banking, Money Transfer etc
• Issuance of Debit Card to Customers to be used on ATMs, POS, Internet and mobile phones.
To the Government:
• A cashless society is a booster to any nation’s economy, unarguably
• Revenue generation bodies can take advantage of the product to boost revenue collection by providing cheap, flexible and secured payment options to the public.
• Money paid as revenue goes straight into the account of the revenue body realtime
• Online monitoring of revenue generated by all government stakeholders based on where, when and which bank is the revenue domiciled.

The eTranzact CorporatePay
Mr. Baba Femi said that this is an online tool for an individual to many payments. It is applicable for Salaries, Pensions, contractor payments etc. Recipients receive alerts on their phones, when credited and all payments authorizations are observed duly. He said it very good for corporate institutions that need to raise cheque payments for many staff at the same time.

RechargeAfrica.com
RechargeAfrica® brings the Africa in Diaspora closer to their relatives. It is a secure and convenient way of meeting the needs of loved ones in Africa. Services include:
• Topup mobile phones,
• Pay Bills (utilities, school fees,etc.) or
• Transfer Funds to your loved ones in countries where eTranzact operates.
Implementation of etransact corporate pay

Here, Mr.  Baba Femi gave the following stages as necessary:
• A bank needs to secure a radio link to eTranzact Main Hub at Heritage Tower, Accra. eTranzact can arrange for this with its service provider.
• A high-end Server for Bank’s eTranzact mini-portal, local data hosting and for interfacing with bank host.
• Pilot (1-2 months)
• Signing a MOU
• Payment.

He went further to outline its Major Security Features as follows:
• All transactions are pin based
• Menu application is encrpted all the way
• Secured connections between eTranzact main hub and the Mobile Networks
• Third Factor Authetication(Money transferred and Web Payment)
• Daily spending limits
• Full audit trail for all transactions
• Role based access control
• Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption (128 bit)  and digital certificate

On how it works, George gave the following process
• A bank Server is deployed preconfigured with the eTranzact application, database and replication server.
• The server is also preconfigured with a default login administrator user ‘xyzadmin
• The Admin user for the bank creates the bank branches with their codes and also create users for the branches
• The branch users can login to the eTranzact  server deployed to their bank from their branches
• The branch users creates the subscribers, merchants and perform transactions like load, unload etc
In concluding, Mr. Baba Femi asserted that Choice, freedom, ease of use, convenience and security is the driving force behind eTranzact.

Comments, Questions and Recommendation
1. Partnership with mobile phone operators with organizations like etransact was highly recommended, just like Empessa in Kenya.
2. Mobile operators need to improve their services.
3. Mobile operators need to set up a device for free phone calls for emergency situations
4. Mobile operators should take corporate social responsibility more seriously.
5. MTN was applauded for being the only mobile operator that honoured the invitation to the cyberseries. It showed accountability and their desire to confront the issues affecting their subscribers in partnership with them.