Telecommunications operator Vodacom Tanzania announced that M-Pesa, its mobile financial services platform, has expanded its international money transfer (IMT) service to eight new countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) where its customers can send and receive money.
The countries involved are South Africa, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Mozambique, Swaziland and DR Congo. This initiative "allows the diaspora to be financially connected to their families back home, while international and inter-regional trade is made even easier through mobile money," said Stergomena Tax, Tanzania's minister of foreign affairs and East African cooperation.
Vodacom began expanding its international transfer portfolio starting in 2014 with Kenya. In 2019, the operator expanded the M-Pesa service, allowing subscribers to send money across East Africa and receive money from more than 200 countries. In September 2021, it added functionality to send money to all bank accounts in Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda.
M-Pesa remains the leading mobile financial service in Tanzania. Approximately 39% of the estimated 39.5 million mobile users in Tanzania use the service, according to the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA).
