As per the recently released Financial Inclusion Survey 2023 by Karandaaz, JazzCash is reported to be the most popular (56%) mobile money wallet in Pakistan, followed by Easypaisa (32%).
JazzCash also stood out as the most recommended (69%) mobile money service followed by Telenor Easypaisa at 24%. Other industry players like UBL Omni, Upaisa, HBL Konnect, Timepey, Alfa, and Meezan Bank did not turn out to be as significant, the survey shows.
For JazzCash, the leading reasons for users’ preference were ‘Ease of Use’, ‘Used amongst social circle’, and ‘Lower transaction fees’.
Even though JazzCash entered the market almost five years after Easypaisa, it has managed to secure a leadership position with a fairly huge margin.
The survey findings, as well as the competitive edge that JazzCash has, also make one wonder why it couldn’t secure the NOC last month to set up a digital bank. Maybe we can cover that aspect in a later article.
The report highlights that overall mobile money wallet registrations increased substantially from 9% in 2020 to 19% in 2022. Urban mobile money wallet registrations saw an even sharper increase from 11% – 26% in the last two years.
Meanwhile, rural mobile wallet registrations increased more modestly from 11% – 16%. Female mobile money wallet registrations saw an increase from 2% in 2020 to 6% in 2022, resulting in some bridging of the gender gap.
Interestingly, 19% of Pakistani adults have mobile money wallets. The most common activity performed by the wallet holders is depositing money into their own mobile money wallet account (82%) followed by cash withdrawal from their own account (79%).
Topping up mobile phones was the third most common activity (70%). Sending or receiving money was performed by 44%.