M-Pesa, Airtel Money users to seamlessly send and receive money after successful pilot interoperability

david nganga

April 6, 2018 1:11 PM

The move will allow customers more flexibility and convenience when carrying out their transactions

Mobile phone users will from Tuesday next week be able to transfer and receive money across Safaricom and Airtel networks following a two-month successful pilot interoperability program.

The move will allow customers more flexibility and convenience when carrying out their transactions.

The system will, for instance, allow an M-Pesa customer to send money, which will be reflected in real time in the recipient’s Airtel Money account.

Currently, the transfer of funds across networks is a complex, costly and inconvenient process where on receiving funds, the recipient has to collect it from an agent registered with the sender’s network.

This system has been disadvantageous for those who receive cash from a network with fewer agents across the country.

Telkom, which relaunched its cash transfer service under the T-Kash brand, will join Safaricom and Airtel at a later date.

The latest quarterly statistics from the Communications Authority reveals that mobile money subscriptions currently stand at over 25 million.

M-Pesa services posted a market share of 80.8 per cent during the quarter under review which was a stark contrast to Airtel Money's 5.8 per cent in the same period.

The cross-platform transfer will see an increase in the number of transactions on the networks with a smaller market share.

david nganga