Vodacom Lesotho has expanded its M-Pesa mobile money service to all users in the country, regardless of which mobile network they subscribe to, in a bid to increase financial inclusion.
According to TechAfrica News, Vodacom Lesotho said on Wednesday that it has dismantled all network restrictions so that anyone with a smartphone – including subscribers of main rival Econet Telecom Lesotho (ETL) – can access and use M-Pesa by downloading the app from the Google Play Store.
Vodacom Lesotho CEO Mohale Ralebitso said the move marked a “significant stride” towards broader financial and digital inclusion for Lesotho, adding that opening up M-Pesa to all mobile users went beyond giving more people a new payment option.
“Crucially, we plan to leverage M-Pesa’s credit scoring capabilities to extend financial inclusion further, reaching people who may not traditionally qualify for credit from conventional banks,” he said in a statement.
Palesa Mphunyetsane, MD for VCL Financial Services – which runs M-Pesa as a separate company from Vodacom – said that it was essential to remove barriers to access to accelerate financial inclusion, to eventually include extending M-Pesa even to people who don’t have smartphones.
“Since M-Pesa’s inception in 2013, we have been ardent advocates for universal financial access,” she said. “Whilst this ‘All Access’ initiative is initially focused on smartphone users, we are already diligently working on solutions to ensure that Basotho without smartphones can also benefit from the life-changing power of M-Pesa in the not so distant future.”
According to Vodacom Lesotho’s website, M-Pesa currently dominates the local mobile money sector with 88% market share.
