2015-05-19 Bitcoin Magazine African Bitcoin Service BitPesa Expands to Tanzania

[bornil267645]

People of Tanzania might have something to cheer for as African Bitcoin startup BitPesa launched its remittance service in Tanzania today with a view of undercutting the fees charged by incumbents’ remittance services.

https://bitcoinmagazine.com/20456/african-bitcoin-remittance-service-bitpesa-expands-tanzania/

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[Kprawn]

News to me, was the partnership between M-Pesa and Western Union to offer international mobile remittances. {What a sell out for African people, and a even bigger reason for them to use BitPesa}

WU will only do that to undercut competitors and to financially rape them even further. Why do people still use these services, when there are better and cheaper alternatives.

It's time for a African financial revolution! Break the chains from these old masters.  .... Take back the financial power, that was taken from you.

When companies like this, charge 20% for remittance fee's, you know you being exploited. Doing that to people, who are already poor.... Sick! 

[Skinnyman]

The remittance market is an absolutely massive potential market for bitcoin, but how well is this bitpesa service doing? Are people actually using it? I think remittance could be the golden goose for bitcoin but my fear is people just wont ever really take advantage of it.

[Denker]

News to me, was the partnership between M-Pesa and Western Union to offer international mobile remittances. {What a sell out for African people, and a even bigger reason for them to use BitPesa}

WU will only do that to undercut competitors and to financially rape them even further. Why do people still use these services, when there are better and cheaper alternatives.

It's time for a African financial revolution! Break the chains from these old masters.  .... Take back the financial power, that was taken from you.

When companies like this, charge 20% for remittance fee's, you know you being exploited. Doing that to people, who are already poor.... Sick! 

People in Kenya can also buy Bitcoin via M-Pesa.But I don't know if vice versa is possible as well.
On reddit someone posted how he bought Bitcoin with M-Pesa.
http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/36dd8q/just_bought_bitcoins_from_bitpesa_via_mpesa/

[bryant.coleman]

The Bitcoin community in Kenya (especially the one which is based in Nairobi) is surprisingly large. I hope that Bitcoin will also find a lot of acceptance in Tanzania. The remittance sector is quite big in these nations. There are lot of Kenyans and Tanzanians working in the middle-eastern countries such as UAE and Saudi Arabia. The use of Bitcoin can be mutually beneficial.

[Chef Ramsay]

The Bitcoin community in Kenya (especially the one which is based in Nairobi) is surprisingly large. I hope that Bitcoin will also find a lot of acceptance in Tanzania. The remittance sector is quite big in these nations. There are lot of Kenyans and Tanzanians working in the middle-eastern countries such as UAE and Saudi Arabia. The use of Bitcoin can be mutually beneficial.

I've always hoped for more and increasing growth in the remittance market of bitcoin as it would create a revolving door of demand that would just get larger and larger. Getting just a few %s of that market would be a big plus to get the price to where it at least should be. At some point the world writ large will have to take notice of bitcoin.

[bryant.coleman]

Here is the market share distribution of the remittance market in Kenya, which happens to be our primary target in the African region.



Western Union and Moneygram are the market leaders, despite their steep commissions.

[qwk]

Here is the market share distribution of the remittance market in Kenya, which happens to be our primary target in the African region.
http://www.imap-migration.org/uploads/pics/graph_4_14.gif

Yours was the map of all remittance, including e.g. Tanzania to Kenya, which can be done by M-PESA.
Here's OECD countries to Kenya, which is probably most relevant to what is generally understood as the remittance market:

[bryant.coleman]

^^^^ In this case Western Union + Moneygram accounts for almost two-third of the volume. It will be extremely difficult to break their monopoly, as these two companies are acting like cartels. However, I think that a large part of the remittances to Kenya will be in the form of various illegal means, and may not be represented in this chart.

[RodeoX]

^^^^ In this case Western Union + Moneygram accounts for almost two-third of the volume. It will be extremely difficult to break their monopoly, as these two companies are acting like cartels. However, I think that a large part of the remittances to Kenya will be in the form of various illegal means, and may not be represented in this chart.

I see what you mean about their virtual monopoly. However i think it can be broken on price alone. Those guys simply CAN'T compete with bitcoin on price. And price is the most important factor in that market. These people are poor and may only be sending $100 per month. Amounts that low come with devastating fees. At this point my guess is that WU and MG can only loose market share. Fingers crossed.

[bryant.coleman]

I see what you mean about their virtual monopoly. However i think it can be broken on price alone. Those guys simply CAN'T compete with bitcoin on price. And price is the most important factor in that market. These people are poor and may only be sending $100 per month. Amounts that low come with devastating fees. At this point my guess is that WU and MG can only loose market share. Fingers crossed.

I beg to differ. Their monopoly can't be broken on price alone. Let's take an example. Someone in the United Kingdom is sending £100 to his relatives in Kenya. Western Union normally charges a commission of 15% (i.e £15). Now a new service provider comes in to existence, and it charges only a commission of 5%. But still people will continue to use WU, as they are unwilling to use a new service provider.

[RodeoX]

I see what you mean about their virtual monopoly. However i think it can be broken on price alone. Those guys simply CAN'T compete with bitcoin on price. And price is the most important factor in that market. These people are poor and may only be sending $100 per month. Amounts that low come with devastating fees. At this point my guess is that WU and MG can only loose market share. Fingers crossed.

I beg to differ. Their monopoly can't be broken on price alone. Let's take an example. Someone in the United Kingdom is sending £100 to his relatives in Kenya. Western Union normally charges a commission of 15% (i.e £15). Now a new service provider comes in to existence, and it charges only a commission of 5%. But still people will continue to use WU, as they are unwilling to use a new service provider.

Maybe? People do love to follow a pattern? I don't know how they operate in Africa, but maybe WU and MG have convenient locations and that helps them own the market?  My hope is that one brave African learns to use BTC and his friends see the benefit. I think we are going to find out in the next few years.