Encouraging results with Mobile Money deployment

The total number of transactions via Mobile Money has surpassed 8.5 million after six months of pilot implementation

By the end of March, the total number of customers registering and using the service has surpassed 1.1 million, of which nearly 660,000 are in remote, border, and island areas – accounting for more than 60 per cent of the total number of customers using the service.

More than 3,000 service points have been established, with about 900 positioned in remote areas, making up about 30 per cent of the total number of established business points.

The total number of payment acceptors established by the end of March stands at more than 12,800, most of whom are units providing essential services such as electricity, water, education, and others.

After six months of the pilot, the total number of transactions via Mobile Money has surpassed 8.5 million, yet their value remains modest at slightly more than $16 million.

Dung stated, “As the service quality of pilot enterprises is generally good, no risks or major incidents occur. This creates trust for customers to use the service and expands it to new users who do not have a bank account, especially those in rural and remote areas with difficult access to payment infrastructure and banking networks.”

According to the SBV, although the pandemic was still complicated in the first months of the Mobile Money service implementation, positive results were seen in the number of customers registering to use the service, especially those in isolated areas.

The State Bank recommended that, for Mobile Money to thrive in the coming period, piloting enterprises need to continue deploying measures to encourage service points and use incentives.

The initial stage of service deployment has delivered non-financial benefits in the form of an increased number of customers coming to the service points and gained more revenue from commissions thanks to a regular customer base.

The latest report by the Ministry of Information and Communications shows that Vietnam currently has 588,000 Mobile Money subscribers. Of these, Viettel has gained 402,000 customers since launching this service at the beginning of December.

Although it provided the service a week earlier than Viettel, state-leading telco VNPT only has around 200,000 subscribers, meaning that after three months of implementation, the number of new Mobile Money subscribers just accounted for a very modest 0.47 per cent of the total number of existing mobile subscribers.

This year, the Ministry of Information and Communications is set to develop mechanisms to support, promote, manage, and supervise the Mobile Money implementation.

Priority will be given to crafting legal regulations on confidentiality, information safety, and data, along with developing a customer identification database based on the national population statistics in order to limit risks associated with information security. This positive move aims to support Mobile Money's boom in the near future.