Tell me when VAT gets abolished and THEN I'll star...

2007-08-19T14:46:14.000-07:00

Tell me when VAT gets abolished and THEN I'll start using airtime as currency. Till then, I'll forgo the 16% cost to buy in [or whatever it is wherever you are].

There are an ever growing bounty of mobile payment and mobile banking solutions that don't depend on airtime, but transact in cold hard cash. The really good ones have put an a cash-handling network of agents at the center of the value proposition, letting me put cash in or take it out when I need it. Corner merchants who sell airtime, petrol station chains, post offices... there are many options. Services like WIZZIT (S. Africa), M-Pesa (Kenya), and GCash (Philippines) all revolve around easy cash-in and cash-out to an e-money balance sitting on the provider's service. Unlike airtime, I can turn it back into cash, and I don't pay 16% VAT.

Comments on Crastinate: Mobile Wallet

Tell me when VAT gets abolished and THEN I'll star...