An article at Daily Guide Ghana shows the growing importance of mobile banking and commerce to people in developing regions in Africa. 

According to the article, several countries in West Africa are beginning to combine the growing wireless networks with financial institutions to connect people in areas where banks are few and far between to basic commercial services like transferring and storing money. 

One of the first, and most successful, such programs, Kenya's M-Pesa mobile money accounts, now reaches more than 13 million Kenyans, allowing them to buy goods, receive payments and access ATMs. 

Pilot programs for 16 mobile operators in Nigeria have been licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria to show the viability of mobile payment systems. According to the article, Nigeria has 88.3 million mobile phone subscribers, but more than two-thirds of the nation's people are unbanked. The number of unbanked is even higher in rural areas of Nigeria. 

The article says Nigeria's unbanked rates are average for Africa in general, where only 20 percent of families have bank accounts. 

According to the Daily Guide, Africa’s rates of growth in its mobile phone markets are some of the highest in the world. The article said the number of subscribers has more than tripled since 2005, to 333 million.

Unlike the United States, where consumer adoption of mobile payments must compete with safe, nearly-ubiquitous, services at any corner bank, mobile payments in Africa may provide many people with their only option for basic financial services. The article says a survey in Kenya from last year showed that 95 percent of users of mobile payments in that country found them to be quick, easy, safe, convenient and cheaper than other options.