MTN has declared its intent to treble its mobile money subscribers in Africa across the next four years, with the ambition of becoming the continent’s largest financial institution.
The group currently has around 21 million mobile money users, but CEO Rob Shuter is determined to expand the services further in the markets where MTN is already present by relying on consumer trust in its brand. He noted that finance was a key area that the group would “put its money on” going forward.
Shuter also stated that MTN is growing its mobile money subscribers at a rate of around half a million active users every month, making his goal of 60 million users within four years achievable. The group provides mobile money services in 14 African markets, including Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Rwanda and Zambia.
MTN recently expanded its mobile money service in Ghana to allow purchases from the Google Play store as a way of encouraging users to make more transactions via the offering. MTN’s expansion plans will face competition from Vodacom, which is looking to extend m-Pesa into new markets.
