{"id":132160,"date":"2026-11-04T09:16:44","date_gmt":"2026-11-04T09:16:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/?p=132160"},"modified":"2026-11-04T09:16:44","modified_gmt":"2026-11-04T09:16:44","slug":"how-fintechs-beat-telcos-to-the-wallet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/how-fintechs-beat-telcos-to-the-wallet\/","title":{"rendered":"How Fintechs beat telcos to the wallet"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"dailymotion-player\"><script src=\"https:\/\/geo.dailymotion.com\/player\/x1ee8e.js\" data-video=\"xbtg7di\"><\/script><\/div><br><br><p>\nWhy are Nigeria&#8217;s telcos, despite controlling 86% of the mobile market, struggling in the lucrative mobile money space? Discover the surprising reason why these giants are falling behind.<\/p>\n<p>While telcos in Nigeria hold Payment Service Bank licenses, these permits restrict them to moving money, not lending it. This crucial difference is key to understanding the mobile money business.<\/p>\n<p>In contrast, East African operations, like Airtel Money in Kenya, leverage lending to achieve massive valuations, with Airtel Money Kenya even being listed on the London Stock Exchange for $7 billion. This highlights a significant missed opportunity for Nigerian telcos.<\/p>\n<p>Learn why owning payment infrastructure is just the beginning, and how understanding the true drivers of valuation, like lending, is essential for success in the fintech landscape.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Why are Nigeria&#8217;s telcos, despite controlling 86% of the mobile market, struggling in the lucrative mobile money space? Discover the surprising reason why these giants are falling behind. While telcos in Nigeria hold Payment Service Bank licenses, these permits restrict them to moving money, not lending it. This crucial difference is key to understanding the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":132162,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gam_disable_ads":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42117,37964],"tags":[10627,42118,691,16471],"class_list":["post-132160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guardian-tech","category-top-video","tag-fintech","tag-mobile-money","tag-nigeria","tag-telecoms"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How Fintechs beat telcos to the wallet - GuardianTV<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Why are Nigeria&#039;s telcos, despite controlling 86% of the mobile market, struggling in the lucrative mobile money space? 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