Currently the use of a telecommunications account to pay for small-value goods and services in the country, called Mobile-Money service, is being implemented in a pilot programme.
Telecommunications isn''t the booming industry it once was, thanks to the mobile market becoming saturated in recent years. This shift is forcing telecom providers to look for "new spaces" - one of which is Mobile Money.
Viet Nam will pilot Mobile Money service across the country for two years before officially launching it, according to Deputy Governor of the State Bank Dao Minh Tu.
Local network providers are expected to be licenced to pilot Mobile Money service next month after more than two years of waiting according to the approved roadmap.
Only about 40 per cent of Viet Nam''s 95 million people have bank accounts, mostly in urban areas, while there are around 120 million mobile phone subscriptions
M_Services JSC, the company that sells MoMo or Mobile Money service, has
raised US$25 million from Standard Chartered Private Equity and $3
million from global investment bank Goldman Sachs.