Mobile Money Summit: 2010

This report is written on the occasion of the third Mobile Money Summit, held May 24-27, 2010 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. e discussions at this year’s summit reflect the evolution in the mobile money industry since the first summit was held two years ago. As GSMA Mobile Money Director Gavin Krugel stated, “We have evolved from hype in 2008 to regulatory and other challenges in 2009 to a deeper level of conversation based on real experience in 2010.” is experience is based on an increase in the number of mobile money deployments worldwide from 60 in 2008 to 120 in 2009 to 160 as of August 2010. Of these 160 deployments, 73 are live and 87 are expected to go live in 2010 (see Mobile Money Tracker on pages 32-33). is increase in the number of mobile money deployments, as well as the continued diversity of speakers and participants at the Mobile Money Summit, indicate that no further convincing is needed of the mobile money opportunity. e Rio Summit brought together 58 speakers and 643 participants from 63 countries. Approximately 51% of attendees were senior management. As in previous summits, the participants represented every sector of the mobile money industry—including financial service institutions, mobile network operators (MNOs), development organizations, technology vendors, regulators and academics.