This paper explores the tradeoff between competition and financial inclusion given by the vertical integration between mobile network and money operators. Using data on mobile money fees, network coverage and financials, we examine the staggering across African countries of platform interoperability – a competition-promoting policy that facilitates transactions across different mobile money operators. Our findings show that companies respond to interoperability by lowering their fees, particularly for low-value transactions. However, this results in a reduction of network coverage, especially in rural districts and among formerly-dominant operators. These network adjustments lead to a decline in various survey metrics of financial inclusion.

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