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Vodafone-MTN Partnership Spreads M-Pesa To Seven African Countries

Vodafone-MTN Partnership Spreads M-Pesa To Seven African Countries

Kenya’s revolutionary mobile money service M-Pesa, hosted by Vodafone’s subsidiary Safaricom, will now be available in seven African countries after Africa’s largest telecom MTN Group signed a deal to extend the service to its customers in other Eastern African countries.

Vodafone, which owns 40 percent of Safaricom, last week reached a deal with MTN to allow their subscribers across the region to transfer money to each other, Business Daily reported.

This will allow M-Pesa users in Kenya, Tanzania, DRC and Mozambique to transfer money to MTN Mobile Money customers in Uganda, Rwanda and Zambia.

“By working together, we will deliver cheaper, faster money transfers, improving the lives of many people living in the seven countries involved,” said Vodafone director of Mobile Money and former Safaricom CEO Michael Joseph.

The deal, which is a first in Africa, will now allow the two companies to define and develop the rules and standards of mobile based remittances in Africa.

Previously, it was only possible to transfer money across borders via international cash transfer services such as Western Union and MoneyGram.