Vodacom Tanzania extends M-Pesa's reach globally with new service
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Vodacom Tanzania launched a global payments service for its M-Pesa mobile money platform on Thursday that enables Tanzanian customers and merchants to use their M-Pesa wallets to make payments while traveling and doing business abroad.
The new M-Pesa Global Payments service – powered by partnerships with Visa, Alipay, Network International, Magnati and MTN Uganda – lets customers make payments using the Tap & Pay system worldwide by tapping their M-Pesa Visa card on a payment terminal.
The service includes M-Pesa Tap & Pay in partnership with Visa – which Vodacom claims as a first in Africa – that enables customers with M-Pesa Visa card-enabled phones to pay worldwide via any Visa payment terminal.
Payments in China are enabled by Alipay through the Thunes Network, while the MTN partnership allows customers traveling to Uganda to pay merchants directly to their MTN MoMo wallets.
TerraPay, which enables international payments for merchants and has been partnering with Magnati since 2023, allows Tanzanian M-Pesa users to transact with merchants in Dubai through its extensive payment network.
Epimack Mbeteni, director of M-Pesa Vodacom Tanzania, said the M-Pesa Global Payments service aims to make life easier for Tanzanian customers and travellers who make frequent payments across the East African region, the Middle East, Asia and other parts of the world, but face costs, delays or insecurity with some payment systems.
“This is the ultimate goal of M-Pesa: to advance financial inclusion and ensure digital innovation that benefits small, medium, large entrepreneurs as well as consumers with personal payment needs,” he said in a statement. “Through this combined power, we are opening up new business channels, reducing operational costs and giving consumers greater freedom to participate in the digital economy.”
According to a report from news agency Ecofin, citing figures from Tanzania Investment and Consultant Group, mobile money subscriptions in the country almost doubled from 32.2 million in 2020 to 61.8 million in 2024. Meanwhile, a survey from GeoPoll survey found 94% of Tanzanians use mobile money services, the report added.
