Overview
Solomon Islands is a geographically dispersed Pacific archipelago with ~720,000 people across nearly 1,000 islands. One of the Pacific's least developed countries, with limited infrastructure, low urbanization (~20-25%, concentrated in Honiara), and heavy dependence on logging, fisheries, and subsistence agriculture. Financial inclusion is extremely low -- most of the population outside Honiara has no practical access to formal financial services. The Central Bank of Solomon Islands (CBSI) has identified mobile money as critical for inclusion, but the country has struggled to establish a commercially viable sustained service. Extreme geographic dispersion, low density, limited network coverage, cash-based economy, and absence of a universal national ID system have combined to make deployment exceptionally difficult.
Regulatory Environment
Central Bank of Solomon Islands
Responsible for monetary policy, banking supervision, and payment system oversight.
Licensing Model
The National Payment System Act 2020 (unverified year) established a modernized legal basis for payment system oversight including mobile money and e-money. Previously, mobile money operated under CBSI's general supervisory authority.
KYC Requirements
- Basic accounts: Available identification including driver's license, voter registration, community verification, or employer letters
- Full KYC: Standard documentation for higher-tier accounts
The absence of a comprehensive national ID system is one of the most significant barriers to mobile money scalability.
Financial Inclusion Strategy
CBSI participates in regional initiatives through AFI and has received technical assistance from PFIP/UNCDF, World Bank, and ADB. National strategies identify mobile money as a priority channel.
Payments Infrastructure
Banking is very limited: BSP Solomon Islands and ANZ Solomon Islands (ANZ has exited, with operations acquired by BSP, unverified), plus Pan Oceanic Bank. Branches are confined to Honiara and a handful of provincial centers. Our Telekom (Solomon Telekom, partially government-owned) and Bmobile are the mobile operators, with coverage concentrated along the coasts of main islands (Guadalcanal, Malaita, Western Province). Solomon Islands lacks a centralized national payment switch or real-time payment system, and there is no interoperability framework for mobile money.
Active Operators
As of 2023-2024, there is no confirmed widely scaled, commercially active mobile money service.
Previous and Pilot Services
Ezipei / M-Selen and various initiatives have been explored with Our Telekom and/or Bmobile, supported by PFIP/UNCDF and other partners. None achieved sustained commercial operation at meaningful scale due to agent viability, adoption, platform, and coverage challenges.
Defunct Operators
Various Mobile Money Pilots
- Period: ~2013-2020
- Operators: Our Telekom, Bmobile, with technology and development partners
- Reason: Insufficient agent liquidity in outer islands, low adoption, technology issues, limited network coverage, and the challenge of building a viable business case in a small dispersed subsistence economy.
Exact names, dates, and structures are not consistently documented. The market has been characterized by pilot projects rather than established commercial operations.
Market Summary
| Operator | Status | Parent | Since | Estimated Users |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Various pilots | Defunct / inactive | Our Telekom, Bmobile | ~2013-2020 | Minimal |
| No confirmed active operator | -- | -- | -- | -- |
Financial Inclusion & Impact
Mobile money has not yet achieved a meaningful role. Cash dominates the formal economy, and barter and traditional exchange systems remain important in rural communities. Solomon Islands has among the Pacific's and world's lowest inclusion rates -- fewer than 25% of adults held accounts at a formal institution (Findex 2017, unverified). Women, rural residents, and outer island communities are disproportionately excluded.
Structural barriers include geography (1,000 islands over 1,500 km with no inter-island roads), very low population density outside Honiara, limited cash circulation preventing agents from maintaining float, incomplete mobile coverage, no universal national ID, low literacy, and unreliable electricity. Despite challenges, PFIP/UNCDF, World Bank, ADB, and Australian DFAT continue to work on financial inclusion.
Timeline
- 2010 -- CBSI begins exploring mobile money frameworks
- 2012 -- PFIP engagement intensifies
- 2013 -- Initial pilot projects explored with mobile operators
- 2015 -- Agent network development and registration efforts
- 2017 -- CBSI and partners reassess approaches after adoption challenges
- 2020 -- National Payment System Act enacted (unverified year); COVID-19 highlights digital gaps
- 2021 -- Partners explore alternative channels (banking agents, agency banking)
- 2023 -- No confirmed scaled mobile money operation; inclusion efforts continue through multiple channels