M-PESA CUSTOMERS CAN NOW SEND MONEY TO OVER 27 MILLION MOBILE SUBSCRIBERS IN TANZANIA

Vodacom’s M-Pesa customers can send money to over 27 million mobile subscribers in Tanzania. Any mobile customer who receives money from M-Pesa can withdraw cash from over 70,000 M-Pesa Agents across the country.

“We strongly believe in financial inclusion and M-Pesa has played a crucial role on this front. For, not only has it allowed customers to send money to any mobile network in Tanzania but has also transformed and enhanced the economy of the country through including millions of Tanzanians in the financial ecosystem,” Vodacom Tanzania’s Managing Director Rene Meza said.

He said that M-Pesa was borne with mobile financial services interoperability in mind that is why this service was uniquely designed to allow Vodacom customers to send money to all networks in Tanzania from the very beginning in 2008. “We are currently in discussion with other mobile operators in Tanzania on how to take mobile financial services interoperability to a higher level,” he said.

Vodacom has also integrated M-Pesa service with 26 banks in the country. This coupled with our over 70,000 M-Pesa Agents effectively provides all Tanzanians with the widest access to financial services in the country,” he said.

Experience shows that the bulk of the transactions on M-Pesa are deposits and withdrawals that are used to fund everyday activities. “We therefore, remain committed to ensuring that our customers can send money across other networks because we would like to see as many Tanzanians as possible accessing financial services wherever they are in this country,” said Meza.

“Today, over Tshs 1.5 trillion is transacted through M-Pesa every month and that this is roughly 35 percent of Tanzania’s GDP and we at Vodacom are extremely privileged to have been a part of this financial transformation that is taking place in Tanzania,” he said.