A new study commissioned by FinScope has revealed that 11% of Zambian adults own mobile money accounts which they use to send and receive money, purchase airtime and pay utility bills.

The study, conducted at the end of 2015 and carried out by US-based global research consultancy Intermedia, has also revealed that half of the Southern African country's population is aware of mobile money services.

Director of Research at Intermedia Colleen Learch was quoted in the local Post newspaper as saying that the growth in mobile money usage among Zambians offers significant opportunities to the banking sector and other financial players to exploit and tap into new markets.

According to Learch Zambia is recording an impressive growth in the use of mobile money.

In comparison to 2009, when the survey was first conducted, 2015 insight revealed that there was more financial inclusion in rural areas (from 42% to 70.3%), compared to the urban areas from 34.4% to 50.1% in 2009 and 2015 respectively.

A recent survey by the Zambia Information and Communication Technology Authority (ZICTA) also showed that many Zambians are now aware of digital financial services.

Amos Kalunga, a telecom analyst at Computer Society of Zambia, said although the number of people owning mobile money accounts is steadily growing, the story could have been different had the Zambian government taken the trouble to aggressively promote digital financial services in the country.

"It is a good thing that finally, Zambians are beginning to embrace mobile money services. But as I have said before, if there was a push by the Zambian government to promote digital finance, the

number of Zambians using mobile money could have been much higher," Kalunga said.

Last month, the Zambian government said it will review the national ICT policy to ensure that it become responsive to all aspects of ICT development in order to benefit locals.