I previously founded a credit and savings bank using mobile money in the Philippines. M-Pesa is a fantastic success in Kenya but replicating it's success in other countries has been very difficult. There are several reasons for this:
1) There were no alternatives when it was launched, eg Western Union. The best way to send money home to your family was literally to trust it to a bus driver, you can imagine how well that worked
2) The regulators were very 'soft' touch and allowed Vodaphone to launch a service which was illegal in many other countries (for money laundering reasons)
3) Vodaphone had an 80-90% market share in most segments, this prevented the 'cross-network' problem
I believe that until android (or other) smartphones become affordable to poor people, freeing innovation from the carriers, we won't see M-Pesa's success get replicated around the world. Then we will see rapid growth shortly after that tipping point is reached.
Stereotypical POV about Africa(that bus driver shit). There was Western Union & Moneygram before M-pesa. M-pesa was just better(cheaper, faster, cellphones everywehere,).
I believe that until android (or other) smartphones become affordable to poor people, freeing innovation from the carriers, we won't see M-Pesa's success get replicated around the world. Then we will see rapid growth shortly after that tipping point is reached.