Vodafone To Deploy M-Pesa Service In South Africa

Vodafone is planning to deploy M-Pesa, a mobile money transfer service, in South Africa, to be deployed by its subsidiary, Vodacom South Africa and its South African banking partner. The M-PESA service was developed by Vodafone and has already been deployed by Safaricom in Kenya, Vodacom in Tanzania and Roshan in Afghanistan (branded M-Paisa).

With approximately 26 million people in South Africa without official bank accounts, M-Pesa is expected to enable millions of mobile phone subscribers who have access to a mobile phone, but do not have or have only limited access to a bank account, to send and receive money via their mobile phones.

Cenk Serdar, director of mobile payments at Vodafone Group, said: “Mobile technology in Africa has already improved the lives of millions simply by allowing them to communicate far beyond their immediate surroundings. It is now set to transform the way we send and receive cash. The successful take-up of M-Pesa in Kenya has clearly demonstrated the demand for easily accessible, secure payment services particularly in emerging markets.

“There are many benefits of using mobile phones for micro-transactions in a country like South Africa, where only 60 percent of people have a bank account in the formal sector, and yet the mobile penetration rate amongst the total adult population is more than 94 percent.”

What changes can we expect in South African banking sector with deployment of M-Pesa?

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