Developing nations to see growth in mobile money services and tablets in 2011

Services such as bill payments and money transfers are typical of those provided

In 2011, IT will improve the lot of developing nations in two major ways: through providing financial services via mobile handsets and delivering education over tablet PCs.

The range of financial services that can be carried out via mobile phones is proving so attractive that just three years after launch 50 per cent of mobile subscribers in many developing countries are using them, according to a new report from Juniper Research.

And in regions such as Africa, mobile is indisputably the best way for citizens to access financial services - since although only 10 to 20 per cent have bank accounts, between 60 and 80 per cent have mobile phones.

The report, entitled Mobile Money Transfers & Remittances: Markets, Forecasts & Vendor Strategies 2011-2015, also shows that in Vietnam, the Philippines and most African countries, one in five mobile users will be using money services over the next two years.

Juniper describes this as a remarkable level of adoption for such new services.

"Our research found that money transfers and bill payments constitute the typical top mobile money services in an operator's portfolio," said Howard Wilcox, senior analyst at Juniper.

"Increasingly, though, merchant payments are being offered and operators can, via partnerships with supermarkets for example, enable people to pay for their shopping this way."

Juniper's research also predicts that international mobile money transfer users will more than double by 2013.

Meanwhile, in the education sector, the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project aims to bring tablet PCs to schools in developing nations. The project, which delivers low-powered, low-cost devices to countries in the Middle East and East Africa, has recently launched a hybrid netbook that can be used as a tablet, and plans to release a dedicated tablet later this year.

The new XO-1.75 laptop will retail for about £106 and start shipping after summer 2011 to countries around the world. The OLPC says about two million have now been allocated.