Mobile operator Vodafone Group in a trading update for its Q1 fiscal report has registered a strong growth in Africa. Driven by its financial platform M-PESA, transaction volumes increased by 45% compared to a similar period last year. This translates to about 4.5 billion transactions in Q1 operations.
Commenting on the report, Vodafone CEO Nick Read said, “These are staggering numbers for a platform that’s number one in every market we are in.”
Read also hinted at the possibility of expanding M-PESA both geographically and in terms of the product set.
“There is an opportunity to take M-PESA out of our footprint in Africa, while we’re also looking at the journey from feature phones to smartphones and mini-apps for things like savings, microloans and insurance,” Read said after reading Vodafone’s first-quarter results.
Currently, the M-PESA platform offers peer-to-peer transactions in countries including Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, and Lesotho.
However, Read mention that it was logical to keep M-PESA within the telecommunications group for now
“We really need to start separating this business into a legal entity and have complete transparency. This will allow us other opportunities going forward,” said Read.
In 2020, Safaricom and South Africa’s Vodacom, completed the acquisition of mobile money platform M-PESA from Britain’s Vodafone.