Ethiopia has granted Safaricom a licence to launch M-Pesa in the populous nation that is largely unbanked.
The telco expects to roll out the mobile money services before the end of the year, which is set to lift the profile of the service since its launch in Kenya in 2007.
“As of this morning, Safaricom Ethiopia has officially been granted the licence to operate mobile money. We look forward to launching M-Pesa in the coming weeks,” chief executive officer Peter Ndegwa said Thursday morning during an investor briefing.
Safaricom announced a 22.2 percent drop in net profit for the full year ended March 2023 to Sh52.48 billion, the third consecutive drop in earnings on the back of its capital investments in Ethiopia.
The unit posted a net loss of Sh21.7 billion, but Safaricom expects it to break even in its fourth year of operation.
The Safaricom-led consortium in Ethiopia has paid $150 million (Sh20.5 billion at the current exchange rates) as licence fees to the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE).
The banking sector regulator said Thursday it issued the mobile money service permit to Safaricom M-Pesa Mobile Financial Service, a new subsidiary that is the first foreign-owned unit to be granted the licence.
“We welcome this shift to the use of digital financial services so as to bring greater efficiency, safety, and transparency to the country's rapidly growing financial system,” NBE said in a statement Thursday.
