Asia-Pacific's mobile commerce (m-commerce) market reached $76.17 billion in 2013 and will double by 2017, Frost & Sullivan said on Tuesday.
According to a new study by the consulting firm, the market is on track to grow to $153.26 billion in 2017.
Numerous developing economies in APAC have low banking penetration rates, especially in the suburban and rural areas.
In contrast, mobile penetration rates are impressively high, even crossing 100% in some countries. This has created opportunities for mobile operators to partner with banks, payment providers and merchants to develop new models of transactions, Frost said.
As a result, the m-commerce market – mobile banking, mobile remittance, and mobile payment – is expected to growth at a healthy rate over the medium term.
According to the firm, m-commerce has taken off in a big way due to the affordability of smartphones in emerging markets. The proliferation of smartphones has created additional forms of mobile payment channels that were not available in the past.
For instance, prepaid credits in the account of mobile subscribers are being increasingly used as a medium of exchange in private peer-to-peer (P2P) and commercial transactions, even if the subscriber does not have an existing bank account.