A consortium led by Safaricom last year secured the first private mobile telephony licence, which does not have a permit for mobile financial services such as M-Pesa. “So far, there is no law that enables foreign operators like M-Pesa to acquire a licence in Ethiopia. If the proposed law is approved, the Safaricom consortium looks set to launch M-Pesa on the back of the new licence. By contrast, Kenya’s 65.08 million mobile phone subscribers give it penetration of 133.6 percent. This follows an Ethiopian government-backed deal that paves the way for Safaricom to start commercial operations in the market, Safaricom officials said recently.

Source: Daily Nation April 26, 2022 19:32 UTC