Analyses of mobile money transfer service in Kenya

我的研究基于从2006年夏天到2012年夏天对图尔卡纳村民手机使用情况的连续观察。我每年花两周的时间在Lodwar、Kalakol和Locheri-edome进行观察和采访。洛德瓦尔和卡库马之间有一条150公里无人维护的公路。每年大约有20名村民充当告密者。我住在卡库马附近Locheri-edome一个村民的家里，收集手机使用情况的数据。我的目的是收集手机用户使用这种媒介进行交流的地点、时间和对象的详细信息。我向举报人询问了他们电话簿上登记的联系人数量，他们与登记为联系人的手机所有者的关系的性质，以及他们使用手机的情况类型。肯尼亚的移动电话服务最初依赖于主要的社会纽带。在大多数其他国家，手机的使用已经彻底渗透到日常生活中，每个人……通常都有自己的SIM卡号码和设备，当别人的手机响了，主人不在时，他们很少接电话。相比之下，在肯尼亚，个人经常接听别人的手机。大多数用户订阅预付费服务，而不是后付费服务，并在产生手机使用费之前购买SIM卡。在这个系统中，SIM卡很容易交换，肯尼亚人有时不仅借出设备，还借出SIM卡号码。这些做法与肯尼亚的移动电话服务和社会制度有关。肯尼亚的移动电话服务也被描述为联结社会资本的传播媒介。事实上，运营商早就提供了分时共享服务，比如Me2U和Sambaza。用户可以将通话时间发送到家庭成员、朋友或任何有需要的人使用的其他设备上，在不直接使用金钱的情况下提供互助。运营商还提供“闪回”服务，用户可以发送“请打电话给我”的信息。谢谢。”这是免费的。这些服务推动了低收入肯尼亚人使用手机。Safaricom于2007年开始提供移动转账服务M-PESA。这项服务是世界上仅有的基于移动电话通信的支付系统之一。它允许手机用户向任何人汇款，即使收件人没有手机。因此，M-PESA促进了低收入肯尼亚人之间的互助和商业活动。在它出现之前，汇款在肯尼亚是昂贵和/或有风险的，因为大多数人没有银行账户，因此需要支付高昂的费用才能在邮局收钱，或者安排司机或中间人协助转账。个人送钱，通常是通过小巴（matatu；经常用于商务旅行），也有丢失钱和被扒手或小偷伤害的风险。M-PESA因此促进了资金的安全转移。转帐费用降低到邮局收费的十分之一，这使得M-PESA在肯尼亚全境的使用迅速普及。移动电话使用的爆炸式增长也与金字塔基础（BoP）业务协议的发展有关。移动电话运营商对BoP的引入做出了回应，采用这种策略来创造业务竞争。例如，Safaricom通过获得M-PESA用户（总计约1500万）产生了巨大的利润，每个用户每月支付约1.11美元（平均人均收入的1.5%）。提供者根据社会特征创造服务；与其他媒体一样，移动媒体也融入了日常生活、商业活动、社会实践和社会分工中。少

My study is grounded in serial observations of mobile phone use among Turkana villagers from the summer of 2006 to the summer of 2012. I conducted observations and interviews in Lodwar, Kalakol, and Locheri-edome during 2 weeks each year. Lodwar and Kakuma are connected by a 150-km unmaintained road. Approximately 20 villagers served as informants each year.I stayed in the home of a villager in Locheri-edome, near Kakuma, while I collected data about mobile phone usage. I aimed to collect detailed information about where, when, and to whom mobile phone owners communicated using this medium. I asked informants about the number of contacts registered in their phone books, the nature of their relationships with mobile phone owners registered as contacts, and the types of situations in which they use mobile phones.Kenyan mobile phone services originally depended on primary social bonds. In most other countries where mobile phone use has thoroughly penetrated everyday life, each individual … More normally has his or her own SIM number and device and rarely answers another person’s mobile phone when it rings in the owner’s absence. In contrast, individuals often answer others’ mobile phones in Kenya. Most users subscribe to prepaid, rather than postpaid, services and purchase SIM cards before they incur phone usage fees. SIM cards are readily exchanged in this system, and Kenyans sometimes lend and borrow not only devices, but also SIM numbers. These practices are related to the mobile phone services and social system in Kenya.Kenyan mobile phone services have also been described as communication media used to bond social capital. Indeed, carriers have provided airtime sharing services, such as Me2U and Sambaza, for a long time. Users can send airtime to other devices used by family members, friends, or anyone in need, providing mutual aid without directly using money. Carriers also provide Flash Back service, which enables a user to send the message “Please call me. Thank you.” for no charge. These services have driven mobile phone use among low income Kenyans.Safaricom began providing the mobile money transfer service M-PESA in 2007. This service is one of the only payment systems in the world based on mobile phone communications. It allows a mobile phone user to send money to anyone, even if the recipient does not have a mobile phone. M-PESA thus promotes mutual aid and business activity among low income Kenyans. Before its advent, sending money was expensive and/or risky in Kenya because most people do not have bank accounts and are thus required to pay high fees to receive money at post offices or to arrange for drivers or middlemen to assist in the transfer. The personal delivery of money, usually by minibus (matatu; frequently used for business travel), also runs the risk of losing the money and being injured by pickpockets or thieves. M-PESA thus facilitates the safe transfer of money. The reduction in the transfer fee to one-tenth that charged by post offices has led to the dramatic spread of M-PESA use throughout Kenya.The explosive expansion of mobile phone use is also related to the development of the Base of the Pyramid (BoP) business protocol. Mobile phone providers responded to the introduction of the BoP by adopting this strategy to create business competition. For example, Safaricom has generated a large profit by acquiring M-PESA users (~15 million in total), each of whom pays about US$1.11 (1.5% average per capita income) monthly. Providers have created services on the basis of social characteristics; like other media, the mobile medium is embedded in everyday life, business activities, social practices, and social divisions. Less