Safaricom has paid a total of Sh20.5 billion ( $150 million ) to get a mobile financial services licence from the Ethiopian government. Safaricom Chief Executive Officer Peter Ndegwa confirmed that the amount is a one-off payment, meaning the telco will not be required to pay additional fees. It does not require us to pay any other licence going forward," Ndegwa said while releasing the firm's 2022-23 financial results in Nairobi . Early this morning, the telco was granted the Payment Instrument Issuer Licence by the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBK) to offer M-Pesa services in the Horn of Africa country. With the new licence, the telco will now be able to offer services such as mobile banking, mobile wallets, internet banking, and card banking.

Source: Ethiopian News May 11, 2023 23:08 UTC