Motorists using the 27-kilometre Nairobi Expressway can now pay toll fees using Airtel Money, expanding the payment options from just M-Pesa, cash, and manual and electronic collection cards.
This follows a deal between Airtel Kenya and the Expressway manager – Moja Expressway Company – on Wednesday.
“Airtel Money, being a key player in the digital payment landscape, has found synergy with Moja Expressway's commitment to providing convenient transportation solutions,” Airtel Money managing director Anne Kinuthia-Otieno said.
“This partnership aims to benefit all stakeholders involved and, most importantly, provide customers with an additional secure and efficient payment choice” she added.
The inclusion of the Airtel Money pay option comes two years after rival Safaricom-owned M-Pesa was handed a similar deal on Kenya’s first major Public-Private Partnership (PPP) project.
Officially opened by retired President Uhuru Kenyatta on July 31, 2022, the Nairobi Expressway runs from Mlolongo through the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) and the Nairobi Central Business District (CBD) to the Westlands area along Waiyaki Way.
The addition of Airtel Money as a payment option comes at a time when the telco is spearheading an aggressive effort to expand the reach of its e-money offering in the race to wrest a sizeable market share from M-Pesa.
Last week, Airtel announced a partnership with supermarket chain Naivas, which will see it ride on the supermarket’s vast network to popularise the mobile money platform by using Naivas’ branches as Airtel Money agents.
Airtel Money’s expansion drive bagged a first boost last year after the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) gave a regulatory nod to mobile money operators to increase daily transaction limits to Sh500,000 up from the previous limit of Sh300,000.
In February this year, Airtel moved to effect a transactional policy review that scrapped a code that forced customers on the Airtel Money platform to withdraw cash within a week of receipt or see the money revert to the sender.
Latest regulatory data from the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) shows that the market share of Airtel Money more than doubled to 6.6 percent during the year to June 2024 up from 2.8 percent in June 2023, eating into Safaricom’s M-Pesa whose share shrunk to 93.4 percent down from 97.1 percent during the period.
