KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 24): The total global user base for mobile payments is set to increase from an estimated 689.99 million users in 2014 to some 4.77 billion users in 2019, according to independent Australia-based telecom analyst firm Ovum.

In its “Mobile Payments Forecasts: 2014 – 2019” released today, Ovum said of the three segments covered in the forecast - m-commerce, person-to-person (P2P) mobile money transfers, and mobile proximity payments – m-commerce is the biggest in terms of users and transaction value.

Ovum forecasts 452.78 million global m-commerce users in 2014, rising to 2.07 billion users in 2019.

It said the global transaction value of m-commerce will grow from US$50.92 billion in 2014 to US$693.36 billion by 2019.

Ovum consumer services and payments principal analyst Eden Zoller said the rise of m-commerce is being driven by the widespread adoption of increasingly powerful smartphones with larger screens.

She said more and more retailers are optimizing their sites for mobile shopping.

“Smartphones have become a platform that can support the whole shopping journey, from product search and discovery, through comparisons and recommendations, to payments,” she said.

Commenting on China, Zoller said the country was the rising star of m-commerce and by 2019 will have 370.29 million m-commerce users, making it the largest m-commerce user base in the world.

She said China is also on track to be second only to the US in terms of m-commerce transaction value, which will reach US$79.36 billion in China in 2019.

“Players such as Alibaba and Tencent are galvanizing the Chinese market, along with a fast-growing, more affluent, middle-class customer base and young people that are mobile-first and view smartphones as the center of their digital lives,” said Zoller.