VOA标准英语2009-Mobile Money Democratizes Uganda's Banking S

A growing number of Ugandans are starting to utilize¹ a service called "Mobile Money" to transfer millions of dollars via text message on their mobile phones. The phenomenon is democratizing banking² in Uganda and changing the country's socioeconomic landscape.

Like the majority of Ugandans, Margaret Okello has never had a bank account. But thanks to an incident involving her mother's cow, the Kampala housewife recently learned that she could use her mobile phone to transfer cash.

Okello says the cow was crossing the road in the Bukwali village in Western Uganda when a motorcyclist crashed into it and damaged his bike. With zero savings³, Okello says her mother was stuck in a serious legal predicament.

"According to the regulations the owner of the cow has to pay because the cows don't have right of way, so the owner of the cow has to pay," said Okello.

Moments after the accident, Okello visited a MTN service center in the capital, Kampala, one of 600 service centers the regional telecom giant operates in Uganda. There, an agent converted Okello's $20 into electronic funds. In less than 5 minutes, Okello's mother received a text message listing a special pin code which she used to retrieve⁴ the funds at a MTN service center in her village.

In east Africa, the mobile banking system was first introduced in Kenya a few years ago. Now, one out of every six Kenyans uses the service to transfer money. In the past two months, telecom providers such as MTN, Uganda Telecom, and Zain have cooperated with local banks to expand this service into Uganda.

In the case of MTN, Ugandans are using their phones to send allowances to their aging parents in outlying villages. Others use it to pay off their children's' school fees, and more than 20 percent of subscribers are using their mobile phones as a substitute for a savings account.

Uganda has only three million bank account holders⁵, but close to 10 million mobile phone subscribers. Traditional banks are sparse⁶ in most parts of rural Uganda. MTN's Mobile Money head, Richard Mwami, says mobile phones have created a new "battleground" for banking.

"The power of the mobile phone [is] we have taken our financial services to people who before have not been exposed to these services. In fact, what we see happening is a lot of growth has been registered in the central part of the country," said Mwami.

Mwami says subscribers are sending an average of $35 each transfer, which he says means low-income people are using the service most. He attributes this to the minimum 40 cents MTN charges per transfer as compared to the $5 charged by traditional banks.

Although it is too soon to weigh the full economic impact of mobile money on rural Uganda, the ease of the service has inspired people like Kampala tour guide operator Timothy Sekanwagi to do something he would not have considered doing before.

Sekanwagi recently bought property in the Ugandan countryside. The businessman saved himself a 90-minute drive each way to the village and high fuel charges by using his mobile phone to transfer a payment to a local contractor⁷.

"I bought a piece of land so I'm trying to put up a structure there so instead of going there I can just send the money, so it is very cheap and convenient," Sekanwagi said.

Mwami adds that this is only the start of an emerging money transfer culture that could significantly boost economic development in Uganda in the coming decade.

Mobile money transfers are popular in several other African countries as well, including South Africa and Nigeria. Telecom operator Zain is now piloting projects across the Middle East and Afghanistan.

Statistics indicate the developing world will use their mobiles to transfer more than $5 billion in the next three years. Some analysts⁸ are already dubbing⁹ mobile companies like Zain the "biggest bank in East Africa."

1 utilize   

vt.使用，利用

参考例句：

• The cook will utilize the leftover ham bone to make soup.厨师要用吃剩的猪腿骨做汤。
• You must utilize all available resources.你必须利用一切可以得到的资源。

2 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

3 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

4 retrieve   

vt.重新得到，收回；挽回，补救；检索

参考例句：

• He was determined to retrieve his honor.他决心恢复名誉。
• The men were trying to retrieve weapons left when the army abandoned the island.士兵们正试图找回军队从该岛撤退时留下的武器。

5 holders   

支持物( holder的名词复数 )； 持有者； （支票等）持有人； 支托（或握持）…之物

参考例句：

• Slaves were mercilessly ground down by slave holders. 奴隶受奴隶主的残酷压迫。
• It is recognition of compassion's part that leads the up-holders of capital punishment to accuse the abolitionists of sentimentality in being more sorry for the murderer than for his victim. 正是对怜悯的作用有了认识，才使得死刑的提倡者指控主张废除死刑的人感情用事，同情谋杀犯胜过同情受害者。

6 sparse   

adj.稀疏的，稀稀落落的，薄的

参考例句：

• The teacher's house is in the suburb where the houses are sparse.老师的家在郊区，那里稀稀拉拉有几处房子。
• The sparse vegetation will only feed a small population of animals.稀疏的植物只够喂养少量的动物。

7 contractor   

n.订约人，承包人，收缩肌

参考例句：

• The Tokyo contractor was asked to kick $ 6000 back as commission.那个东京的承包商被要求退还6000美元作为佣金。
• The style of house the contractor builds depends partly on the lay of the land.承包商所建房屋的式样，有几分要看地势而定。

8 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

9 dubbing   

n.配音v.给…起绰号( dub的现在分词 )；把…称为；配音；复制

参考例句：

• There are mainly two forms of film translation: dubbing and subtitling. 电影翻译通常主要表现为两种形式：配音和字幕翻译。 来自互联网
• Its auspices, dubbing the program has won national awards in China. 其主持配音的节目多次获得中国全国奖项。 来自互联网