Safaricom launched M-Pesa in Kenya in 2007Ethiopia's central bank said on Thursday it had issued a mobile money licence to Kenyan telecoms giant Safaricom, the first granted to a foreign company in Africa's second most populous country. The announcement came seven months after Safaricom became the first private telecommunications operator in Ethiopia, ending a monopoly under state-owned Ethio Telecom. "This is the first mobile money licence granted to a foreign investor in Ethiopia," the National Bank of Ethiopia said in a statement. Ethio Telecom already offers a mobile money transfer service called Telebirr, named after the national currency, the birr. Safaricom first launched its mobile money service known as M-Pesa in Kenya in 2007 and it has become an indispensable tool for paying bills and transferring money.

Source: Ethiopian News May 12, 2023 04:41 UTC