Why Digicel Mon Cash Rebranding for Haiti means Mobile Money coming in 2016

Digicel may be ramping up for a big push into Mobile Money in Jamaica as a part of their second IPO filing in 2016.

So says my sources, who recently contacted me with regards to Digicel Groups' rebranding of their Mobile Money platform Tcho-Tcho mobile as “Mon Cash” in Haiti on Tuesday August 18^th 2015 as reported in the article “Digicel relaunches Mobile Money product in Haiti”, published Wednesday, August 19, The Jamaica Observer.

 

The news service means that the 1,600,000 Haitians who do not have a bank account now have the ability to do more transactions once they register for free using a valid government ID: 

1.      Domestic money transfers

2.      Pay bills

3.      Buying Mobile Credit

4.      Receiving Remittances

So will a Digicel based Mobile Money Service that I’d predicted for December 2014 as I’d predicted in my blog article entitled “Digicel's Mobile Money Service in 2014 - Haiti Tcho Tcho with ScotiaBank heralds Cashless Society by 2015” be coming to Jamaica in 2015, possibly powered by Scotia bank  ?

According to my sources, by 2016!

Digicel Mon Cash Rebranding for Haiti - Remittances boost for revenues before Second IPO

Based on my sources, Digicel may soon launch their Mobile Money Service in Jamaica as a means to make paying for everything from Credit to Cable Bill for their up and coming Fiber Optic Cable service Digicel Play as mentioned in my blog article entitled “US$5.5 billion Liberty Global purchase of CWC's FLOW Jamaica - Why Digicel Play will truly Liberate Cable Subscribers”.

Also, my sources have told me that it may not be called Mon Cash in Jamaica, but might go by a different name altogether. My sources also pointed out to me that after they had withdrawn their IPO launch as announced in the article “Digicel postpones IPO launch”, published Tuesday, October 06, 2015, The Jamaica Observer and “Digicel Drops IPO Plans”, published Wednesday October 7, 2015, The Jamaica Gleaner, they've been looking for new source of Revenue.

Their up and coming Fiber Optic Quad play service of Fixed line, Broadband Internet, Cable Television and Wireless Broadband for Mobile Telephony is one potential revenue earner. This is especially now that they’ve purchased SportsMax and rebranded it Digicel SportsMax as noted in my Geezam blog article entitled “Digicel Sportsmax NBA deal means fiber and 4G LTE coming this year”

Already, Telstar Cable @TelstarCableLtd in a tweet on October 15^th 2015 endorsed the name Digicel Play, dropping a big hint that Digicel is soon to launch their Digicel Fiber service!

Digicel Play will revolutionize the industry. #DigicelPlay http://t.co/lOK6F3kJ95

— Telstar Cable Ltd (@TelstarCableLtd) October 15, 2015

A quick look at Digicel’s website suggests that they’ve pretty much quietly launched Digicel Fiber as shown below.

So too is their recent advertised push into Prepaid with Digicel MoreSmart Postpaid Data Plan as described in my blog article entitled “Why Digicel Smart and Value Postpaid Plans upgrade to Smart Postpaid Plans geared towards smartphones”.

 

So will Digicel be launching a Mobile Money service to shore up their revenues for another IPO push in 2016? They might, especially as Remittance is on the rise!

Digicel Mobile Money inevitable - Why Digicel Mobile Money competition coming against Supreme Ventures and Grace Kennedy in 2016

A Mobile Money service in Jamaica may not seem likely.

Jamaica has a population of only 2.7 million people, 20% of Haiti's 10 million strong populations. But we do have a large percentage of Jamaicans who are unbanked i.e. having no access to a bank account.

According to chairman of the Financial Services Commission (FSC), Colin Bullock at the Caribbean Group of Securities Regulations conference in St Ann on Tuesday April 21^st 2015, the percentage of unbanked in Jamaica strands at 30% of the population as noted in the article “30 per cent of Jamaicans have no bank account”, published Friday, April 24, 2015, The Jamaica Observer.

Supreme Ventures knows this, which is why they are now tapping into the Mobile Gaming Market with their recent upgrade to the IFLEX Betting Platform announced on Wednesday October 21 2015 as reported in my blog article entitled “Supreme Ventures Limited IFLEX Betting Platform Upgrade - How Mobile Gambling via Smartphone is finally coming to Jamaica”.

Supreme Ventures will most likely be using and Mobile Money Platform CONEC that's based on a partnership between JCCUL (Jamaica Co-Operative Credit Union League) and Mozido Jamaica Limited with Paymaster as their Retail Payment Service Providers as explained in my blog article entitled “JCUES now CONEC Mobile Wallet - Why CONEC Mobile Wallet still inconvenient despite Paymaster and Remittances in the JCCUL-Mozido Jamaica mix”.

Their IFLEX Betting Platform may also allow them to tap into the lucrative US$2.2 billion Remittances market that has players in the financial sector like Grace Kennedy interested in Mobile Money.

Grace Kennedy, which handles nearly 50% of the US$2.2 billion Remittances that pass through Jamaica each year as note in my blog article entitled “World Bank's Global Remittance Slowdown - Why Jamaica's Remittance will slow in 2016 as Saudi Arabia Runs out of US Dollars”.

They too, are in a unique position to also gain control of the market, now that NCB (National Commercial Bank) has stopped being an agent for MoneyGram as noted in my blog article entitled “NCB Under Pressure cuts ties with Remittance Agent MoneyGram - Mobile Money, Remittance and E-Commerce Triple Play Services by September 2014”.

So will Digicel go after the US$2.2 billion Remittance Goldmine via Mobile Money after they launch their 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) Network as detailed in my Geezam blog article entitled “Why RJR HDTV coming against Digicel and LIME 4G LTE and FTTH”.

Will Mobile Money be an option in the future to pay for Digicel MoreSmart Postpaid services or even your Digicel Play Cable Bill as Apps on your smartphone as I’d predicted in my Geezam blog article entitled “Why Digicel blocking Google ads may be the rise of Digicel App World”.

2016 is only two (2) months away and we might hear more about Mobile Money and other upcoming services from the Bigger, Better Network in December 2015!!!