Laser Focus World is an industry bedrock—first published in 1965 and still going strong. We publish original articles about cutting-edge advances in lasers, optics, photonics, sensors, and quantum technologies, as well as test and measurement, and the shift currently underway to usher in the photonic integrated circuits, optical interconnects, and copackaged electronics and photonics to deliver the speed and efficiency essential for data centers of the future.

Our 80,000 qualified print subscribers—and 130,000 12-month engaged online audience—trust us to dive in and provide original journalism you won’t find elsewhere covering key emerging areas such as laser-driven inertial confinement fusion, lasers in space, integrated photonics, chipscale lasers, LiDAR, metasurfaces, high-energy laser weaponry, photonic crystals, and quantum computing/sensors/communications. We cover the innovations driving these markets.

Laser Focus World is part of Endeavor Business Media, a division of EndeavorB2B.

Laser Focus World Membership

Never miss any articles, videos, podcasts, or webinars by signing up for membership access to Laser Focus World online. You can manage your preferences all in one place—and provide our editorial team with your valued feedback.

Magazine Subscription

Can you subscribe to receive our print issue for free? Yes, you sure can!

Newsletter Subscription

Laser Focus World newsletter subscription is free to qualified professionals:

The Daily Beam

Showcases the newest content from Laser Focus World, including photonics- and optics-based applications, components, research, and trends. (Daily)

Product Watch

The latest in products within the photonics industry. (9x per year)

Bio & Life Sciences Product Watch

The latest in products within the biophotonics industry. (4x per year)

Laser Processing Product Watch

The latest in products within the laser processing industry. (3x per year)

Get Published!

If you’d like to write an article for us, reach out with a short pitch to Sally Cole Johnson: [email protected]. We love to hear from you.

Photonics Hot List

Laser Focus World produces a video newscast that gives a peek into what’s happening in the world of photonics.

Following the Photons: A Photonics Podcast

Following the Photons: A Photonics Podcast dives deep into the fascinating world of photonics. Our weekly episodes feature interviews and discussions with industry and research experts, providing valuable perspectives on the issues, technologies, and trends shaping the photonics community.

Editorial Advisory Board

  • Professor Andrea M. Armani, University of Southern California
  • Ruti Ben-Shlomi, Ph.D., LightSolver
  • James Butler, Ph.D., Hamamatsu
  • Natalie Fardian-Melamed, Ph.D., Columbia University
  • Justin Sigley, Ph.D., AmeriCOM
  • Professor Birgit Stiller, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, and Leibniz University of Hannover
  • Professor Stephen Sweeney, University of Glasgow
  • Mohan Wang, Ph.D., University of Oxford
  • Professor Xuchen Wang, Harbin Engineering University
  • Professor Stefan Witte, Delft University of Technology

The current dilemma and the way out of mobile payment in South Africa

The current dilemma and the way out of mobile payment in South Africa

The current dilemma and the way out of mobile payment in South Africa

PRETORIA, GAUTENG , SOUTH AFRICA, July 1, 2021 /EINPresswire.com/ -- PT-Wallet, a longserving operator of Amazon, Mercadolivre, and Aliexpress, seized the historical opportunity presented by the Internet revolution in 2020 with the launch of the first Internet AI intelligent matching system, achieving significant success in the US, UK, Mexico, and Brazil. These days, PT-wallet trumpeted its comprehensive expansion into the mobile payment space, entering the South African market. In this regard, PT-Wallet's CEO John claimed in an interview: South Africa is the most developed country in the entire Africa, we highly value the South African market. However, the existing mobile payment has created a giant obstacle for PT-Wallet, mainly owing to the sluggish payment in South Africa which leads to the current mobile payment could only be performed under the banking system with less real-time performance. Accordingly, it takes 2-3 working days to complete the bulk collection as well as payment for general enterprises, failing to achieve instant transfer, which turns out to be the major barrier in the process of promoting mobile internet programs.

According to relevant reports, despite the lack of a coherent definition of mobile payment, it can be categorized into mobile payment with a wallet (M-PESA) or without a wallet (Google pay and Apple Pay), with the former regarded as a payment method and the latter more of a payment channel. One of the most critical differences between the two classifications is whether or not a user's account system is available, and the payment channel requires at least one payment method to accomplish the payment.
By virtue of the South African Banks Act (Act no. 94 of 1990), the issuance of a mobile money wallet is considered to be an act of deposit taking. Hence, only banks can issue E-Wallets. In other words, either the bank's own E-Wallet business, or the cooperation between the third party and the bank. The diagram is as follows:

Probably for this reason, E-Wallets in South Africa do not catch on. Despite E-Wallet from FNB Bank being deemed an impressive business, there are only 6.4 million users as of the end of June 2019 since its launch in 2009, with only 1 million monthly active users. In most African countries, telecommunications operators have achieved some success in terms of mobile money. However, Vodacom and MTN in South Africa both took this business offline in 2016. Note: MTN went live again at the end of January this year, yet FNB didn't appear to be taking it seriously.

Overall, there are two possible options for operating the mobile payment in South Africa.
1.Apply for a banking license and issue mobile wallet independently. Currently, digital banking is available for application, which is the optimal approach to operate entirely online;
2.Cooperate intensively with a bank, taking advantage of the bank's mobile wallet. In this sense, SnapScan is a typical, and there is reason to believe that Standard Bank endorses its wallet (or directly provide it with a set of wallet, which is not instant money, and this is different from South Africa's WeChat payment).

If South Africa can liberalize some policies on mobile payment in the next 1-2 years, South Africa's mobile Internet will definitely gain new life and vigor.

Payment information
Payment information
email us here

More News

View More

Recent Quotes

View More
Symbol Price Change (%)
AMZN  213.04
-1.43 (-0.67%)
AAPL  252.29
+4.84 (1.96%)
AMD  233.08
-1.48 (-0.63%)
BAC  51.28
+0.84 (1.67%)
GOOG  253.79
+1.91 (0.76%)
META  716.91
+4.84 (0.68%)
MSFT  513.58
+1.97 (0.39%)
NVDA  183.22
+1.41 (0.78%)
ORCL  291.31
-21.69 (-6.93%)
TSLA  439.31
+10.56 (2.46%)
Stock Quote API & Stock News API supplied by www.cloudquote.io
Quotes delayed at least 20 minutes.
By accessing this page, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms Of Service.