At the risk of contradicting myself, what has really astonished me is the relevance that cellhone banking (in SA, mobile banking normally refers to a bank branch that can be moved around) is having on our traditional urban banking populations.

Yes, I still think cellhone banking are, and will be changing the face of rural Africa for ever, but we ar seeing a mass adoption of the service in the urban areas as well.

For traditional bank with traditional customers this is probable the biggest change since the introduction of the plastic bank card.

We are seeing it extensively being adopted for information retrieval (balances, statements, etc.). Pre Paid services are also becoming the dominant form of commerce in SA, not only in the mobile airtime space but also in utilities like electricity. Here banks are playing a pivotal role in allowing the top up of these accounts, with Cellhone Banking by far the dominant channel for these transactions in my bank.

Where rural take up has been driven by location and distance, time pressures and convenience drives the take up in the modern city. However, for people living in informal settlements in and near cities, banking infrastructure can also be a significant distance from their working and living space, with transport cost being a significant detractor.

In SA we have seen cellphone banking crossing the gender gap, being used by people of all races, perhaps favouring the youth, but gaining in popularity under the aged and being relevant as much in the rural areas than in the city shopping malls and suburbs.