Kenyan Mobile Money Gets Boost in Shift to Seamless Payments
- Other operators can use Safaricom system to make payments
- Mobile money is widely used in East Africa’s biggest economy
A pedestrian passes retail kiosks offering Safaricom mobile money services in Nairobi, Kenya.
Photographer: Patrick Meinhardt/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Kenya’s cellular-phone operators agreed to allow mobile payments across their networks, joining an effort by the central bank to integrate the nation’s payment systems.
The first phase of “merchant interoperability” will enable Airtel Networks Kenya Ltd. and Telkom Kenya Ltd. users to pay for goods through Safaricom Plc’s M-Pesa, the biggest mobile-money platform in the East African country, the three companies said in a statement on Friday.