Kenya’s Safaricom has partnered with mobile phone service provider, MTN in a new venture that will enable its 19.5 million M-Pesa users to send and receive money from 19 African countries and beyond.
M-Pesa users in 7 East African nations will now be able to move cash across borders. Vodafone, which owns 40% of Safaricom, has entered into a deal with South Africa’s MTN, which will connect their respective mobile money systems and clients.
Users in Kenya, Tanzania, the DRC, Mozambique, Uganda, Rwanda and Zambia will now be able to move money across borders.
Since its 2007 launch in Kenya, the M-Pesa subscriber base has grown to over 19 million, with a network of more than 80 000 agents in support. In 2014, the service has been introduced in Egypt, India, Lesotho and Mozambique.
MTN boasts 223.4 million subscribers across its operations in Afghanistan, Benin, Botswana, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Cyprus, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Republic, Iran, Liberia, Nigeria, Republic of Congo (Congo-Brazzaville), Rwanda, South Africa, Sudan, South Sudan, Swaziland, Syria, Uganda, Yemen and Zambia.
