Vodacom Pty. Ltd. is teaming with Nedbank Ltd. to launch the M-Pesa mobile cash-transfer service in South Africa, the mobile operator announced last week.
M-Pesa is a branchless mobile-banking service already operating in Kenya, Tanzania and Afghanistan that enables consumers to deposit and withdraw funds from a network that includes airtime resellers and retail outlets that serve as banking agents.
The service enables users to transfer funds to other users and nonusers, pay bills and purchase airtime. Vodafone Group PLC developed the service in March 2007 in association with Kenya-based mobile operator Safaricom Ltd. Vodafone, which owns a stake in Safaricom, also is the majority shareholder in Vodacom.
In South Africa, the M-Pesa service initially will enable unbanked users to transfer funds using their handsets, and they eventually will be able to use it to pay bills and to buy goods.
The mobile operator’s goal is to register at least 10 million customers in South Africa within three years, according to a Vodacom spokesperson.
The number of M-Pesa clients in Kenya has grown by 61%, to 11.9 million in July from 7.4 million a year earlier, according to Safaricom.
The service facilitated the transfer of 33 billion Kenyan shillings ($394 million or 310.2 million euros) in July, up 65% from 20 billion Kenyan shillings in July last year.
