Money transfer service "M-Pesa" now in Uganda

Kenya’s largest telco Safaricom has partnered with Uganda’s MTN in a move aimed at deepening financial inclusion between the two countries.

Safaricom’s more than 22 million users will now be able to make mobile money transactions to and from Uganda with the money transfer service “M-Pesa”.

More than 5 million MTN Mobile Money customers in Africa are also expected to largely benefit from this alliance.

This partnership by the telco comes a month after Safaricom and MTN Rwanda entered into the same partnership. M-pesa also took a cross-border approach to financial transactions with Tanzania’s Vodacom in the beginning of the year.

This move is also expected to further boost regional integration in East Africa.

‘‘This is yet another affirmation of our intention to make it possible for our individual and business customers to enjoy convenient, affordable and reliable mobile money services across the borders,’‘ Betty Mwangi,Director- Financial Services at Safaricom said in a statement.

Since its launch in 2007, ‘‘M-Pesa’‘:http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/AFRICAEXT/0,,contentMDK:22551641~pagePK:146736~piPK:146830~theSitePK:258644,00.html has become the most famous mobile money service in Africa and is said to have exceeded the reach of any other financial service in Kenya.

The East African nation accounts for 30 per cent of the world’s 61 million active mobile money users further deepening financial inclusion in the country.

Earlier this year, the Nairobi Securities (NSE) listed firm relocated its servers from Germany, where it has been hosted since its inception in order to enhance M-Pesa services and minimise service outages.