M-pesa reaps from MTN’s legal tussle in bid to enter SA

“The successful take-up of M-PESA in Kenya has clearly demonstrated the demand for easily accessible, secure payment services particularly in emerging markets,” said Cenk Serdar, Director of Mobile Payments at Vodafone Group.

“There are many benefits of using mobile phones for micro-transactions in a country like South Africa, where only 60 per cent 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 per cent,” said Mr Serdar.

Research shows that financial services are critical for economic development and inclusive financial services for the unbanked are essential for poverty reduction.

Lack of access

Lack of access to banking services is forcing many to rely on a cash-based economy with little security.

Mobile technology can assist in enabling millions to take part and benefit from a more formal economy which will in turn drive economic development.

Meanwhile, a major technical hitch last week saw several M-Pesa subscribers face delays in transactions.

Safaricom attributed the outage to maintenance issues.