This paper describes strategies to lower the cost
of providing Automated Teller Machine microdeposit services
in rural contexts. Microdeposits represent a growing market
in the developing world, but the cost of running a
conventional ATM network is prohibitive due to the capital
investment required to deploy networks and terminals.
Our novel contributions are to use the Short Message
Service (SMS) over high-penetration GSM cellular networks
in conjunction with a system using location awareness to
intelligently distribute available balances among machines.
This allows us to provide high levels of service while
simultaneously reducing risk to the financial institution and
lowering per-transaction cost.
Using a simulation of ATM usage patterns and
distributions, our primary results under our model are: (1)
transaction cost per user per year can be optimized to less
than USD 0.18 given an SMS loss rate of approximately 10%
while (2) customer withdrawal success rate can be maintained
at approximately 98% with (3) a maximum of 5% of funds on
deposit available in cash in ATMs at any given time.
These results make wide deployment of rural ATM services
by financial institutions feasible and economically viable in
the near term using existing commodity tech
This paper describes strategies to lower the cost
of providing Automated Teller Machine microdeposit services
in rural contexts. Microdeposits represent a growing market
in the developing world, but the cost of running a
conventional ATM network is prohibitive due to the capital
investment required to deploy networks and terminals.
Our novel contributions are to use the Short Message
Service (SMS) over high-penetration GSM cellular networks
in conjunction with a system using location awareness to
intelligently distribute available balances among machines.
This allows us to provide high levels of service while
simultaneously reducing risk to the financial institution and
lowering per-transaction cost.
Using a simulation of ATM usage patterns and
distributions, our primary results under our model are: (1)
transaction cost per user per year can be optimized to less
than USD 0.18 given an SMS loss rate of approximately 10%
while (2) customer withdrawal success rate can be maintained
at approximately 98% with (3) a maximum of 5% of funds on
deposit available in cash in ATMs at any given time.
These results make wide deployment of rural ATM services
by financial institutions feasible and economically viable in
the near term using existing commodity tech
Post new comment