Safaricom Acquires M-Pesa Holdings from Vodafone - Telecom Review Africa (2024)

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Safaricom Acquires M-Pesa Holdings from Vodafone - Telecom Review Africa? ›

Safaricom confirmed that it now holds 100% ownership of M-Pesa, a company that manages billions of Kenyan shillings in customer deposits. This acquisition establishes M-Pesa as a fully owned subsidiary of Safaricom.

Safaricom was formed in 1997 as a fully owned subsidiary of Telkom Kenya. In May 2000, Vodafone Group PLC of the United Kingdom acquired a 40% stake and management responsibility for the company. In 2008, the government offered 25% of its shares to the public through the Nairobi Securities Exchange.

In early 2020, Vodacom & Safaricom completed the acquisition of the M-PESA brand from Vodafone Group through a newly created joint venture.

East Africa's biggest company Safaricom Plc sees no compelling case for splitting its mobile-money service M-Pesa into a separate unit under a new group holding structure planned for 2025.

In addition, unlike the proliferation of ATMs in the developed world, Kenya – like many other nations in the global South – has relatively few ATMs: one for every 18,000 people. It is also exorbitant to transfer money using other methods. By contrast, M-Pesa is easily accessible, convenient, safe and affordable.

Vodafone currently holds a 40% indirect interest in Safaricom through a wholly-owned subsidiary, Vodafone Kenya Ltd (“VKL”).

Our shareholding structure changed during the year and is currently comprised of the Government of Kenya (35 per cent), Vodacom (35 per cent), Vodafone (5 per cent) and free float (25 per cent). * Company holds an indirect interest in Safaricom through a wholly-owned subsidiary, Vodafone Kenya Ltd (VKL).

Nick Read, Vodafone Group's CEO, said: “M-PESA is hugely successful and enables millions of unbanked people in Africa to transfer money, pay bills and trade.

Can one send money to all Banks globally? This service is currently available in Germany, China and UAE.

Why did M-Pesa fail? ›

Trying to launch the same M-Pesa product in SA and Kenya "was a terrible idea", according to an analyst. Analysts believe M-Pesa failed in SA because Vodacom did not take into account the major differences between the Kenyan and South African markets.

Your Account shall be suspended if you port your number to other networks or if your SIM has been inactive for a period of ninety (90) days or such other period as may be prescribed.

Michael Joseph explains why M-Pesa did not perform as well in the Indian market as the company had originally hoped. currency as well as 'black money,' i.e., income on which tax has illegally not been paid, exacerbates the problem of over- reliance on cash (D'Cunha, 2017).

Development economists Tavneet Suri and William Jack looked into such impacts in a series of research papers, including a 2016 Science paper. By 2016, they found, M-Pesa was everywhere in Kenya — 96 percent of households used it.

M-PESA has enabled various measures to ensure that our customers and merchant are not at risk of losing their funds for one reason or the other. Some of the measures are highlighted below. As M-PESA customers, you are required to set a new PIN during activation of your M-PESA account.

Safaricom confirmed that it now holds 100% ownership of M-Pesa, a company that manages billions of Kenyan shillings in customer deposits. This acquisition establishes M-Pesa as a fully owned subsidiary of Safaricom.

Vodafone is part of TPG Telecom, as are some of Australia's most-loved brands including TPG and iiNet. We've decided to offer our products and services to our partners' customers in order to provide a great experience for you.

Vodafone is the majority shareholder of Vodacom with a 65.1 percent stake and also holds a five percent indirect equity in Safaricom. The transfer of M-Pesa Holding to Safaricom comes as Vodafone's new chief executive Margherita Della Valle swore to simplify the business and improve its performance.

Vodafone has operated in Kenya through the local brand Safaricom for more than 20 years.

Vodafone Idea Limited is an Aditya Birla Group and Vodafone Group partnership. It is India's leading telecom service provider. The Company provides pan India Voice and Data services across 2G, 3G and 4G platform.