Safaricom M-Pesa receives Ethiopian mobile money license, ending state monopoly
The Kenya-based company already has 3 million mobile phone users in Ethiopia and plans to make it the 10th country where the payment service will be available.
The National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) has issued a mobile money-service license to Safaricom M-Pesa Mobile Financial Service, it announced May 11. Previously, only Telebirr, part of the state-owned Ethio Telecom network, operated in that market.
Kenya-based Safaricom was also the first company to break Ethio Telecom’s monopoly on Ethiopian mobile phone service in October, through its Safaricom Telecommunications Ethiopia subsidiary. The NBE introduced legislation into the Parliamentary Assembly earlier in 2022 to make the private service possible.
Safaricom Ethiopia currently has almost 3 million users, the company said. That compares to Ethio Telecom’s 54 million users, in a country of 118 million. The government is now reportedly looking to sell a 45% share in Ethio Telecom.
