While European operators have given up on banking offerings in recent years, mobile money systems in Africa and the Middle East have been on the opposite trajectory. Airtel Africa’s barnstorming money unit grew 21% last year, and may soon lead to a fruitful stock exchange listing – though recent network outages in Central and West Africa highlight some vulnerabilities of mobile-only banking. Globally, MNOs do not have a strong history of success in extending their strategies to offer services other than mobile connectivity to their customers. Perhaps only a handful have been successful in transition to Digital Services Providers, such as SK Telecom, Reliance Jio, and in its African operations, Bharti Airtel. Last week, Airtel Africa was rumored to be…