I'm totally talking out of my ass, here, but I wonder if the issue of using cell phones as payment in the Japan, is partly due to the decreased usage of credit

I'm totally talking out of my ass, here, but I wonder if the issue of using cell phones as payment in the Japan, is partly due to the decreased usage of credit cards. I know that in Latin America, where I grew up, there are very few people who use credit cards. The infrastructure for electronic payments and debits just isn't there and fraud is rampant. I'd be willing to bet that a lot of countries with state controlled telecommunication companies or cellular near-monopolies can leapfrog the credit card adoption hurdle by offering epayments via cellphone. What do people in non-US countries think?