Mobile payments to be worth $1.3tn by 2017

You many have noticed a fair few players trying to get in the mobile money game recently. There’s a very good reason for that. The field is about to explode.

According to tech analysis company Juniper Research, transactions made using mobile payment services are set to be worth US$1.3-trillion by 2017, growing nearly fourfold in the next five years.

The research company reckons that these transactions — which will account for 54% of the total value of mobile payments by 2017 — have already been bolstered by stimuli such as the widespread rollout of NFC support infrastructure and the increased engagement of operators with the mCommerce space. Despite this growth however, physical goods sales conducted via the mobile phone would still only account for around four percent of global retail transactions by 2017.

One key factor in tipping the scales, it says, has been the widespread roll out of NFC. “While we are now seeing significant deployments of contactless infrastructure, consumer awareness is extremely low. Thus, it is imperative for all members of the NFC value chain to engage with the public to heighten its profile as a simple, intuitive payment mechanism,” said Juniper Research’s DR Windsor Holden.

The use of mobile for both domestic and international money transfer is also an important factor in the growth of the field. Juniper Research stresses however that in many markets service adoption was being inhibited by national regulatory requirements and by a lack of interoperability between services.