Safaricom will launch its M-Pesa mobile money service in Ethiopia before close of this quarter ending September, just months after authorities in the populous country granted an operating licence to the telco.
The plan, disclosed by Safaricom’s parent firm Vodacom Group Limited in a trading update, is set to help grow its Ethiopian operations revenue and aid in its quest for a profit by 2027.
“Our recently launched Ethiopian business, Safaricom Ethiopia, has made good progress since its commercial launch in October 2022, already reaching 2.7 million customers and is set to launch M-Pesa services in the second quarter [three months to September],” Vodacom said.
The Safaricom-led consortium became the first foreign-owned entity to be granted a mobile money service licence in May after paying $150 million (Sh21.3 billion at the current exchange rates) as permit fees to the National Bank of Ethiopia, which is the country’s banking sector regulator.
“We welcome this shift to the use of digital financial services so as to bring greater efficiency, safety, and transparency to the country’s rapidly growing financial system,” NBE said at the time of issuing the licence.
A decision to approve the roll out was revealed in October 2022 during the launch of Safaricom Telecommunications Ethiopia in Addis Ababa.
