AzamPesa, a new mobile money wallet has launched in Tanzania. It is the first mobile money wallet not directly associated with a Mobile Network Operator (MNO).
The wallet is accessible through AzamPesa MNO partners via ussd 15008#.
Because the wallet is not associated with MNOs, AzamPesa is SIM independent, which means one can register for the service from multiple networks.
We believe digital payments can be more effective in promoting financial inclusion, economic growth, and formalising the economy. If you can make an unknown buyer and an unknown seller transact digitally, you increase the number of things the buyer can purchase and the number of potential customers for that seller.
AzamPay CEO, Firas Ahmad
There are six mobile network operators offering mobile money services in Tanzania: Vodacom with M-Pesa (39%), Tigo with Tigo Pesa (30%), Airtel with Airtel Money (20%), Halotel with Halopesa (7%), TTCL (3%), and Zantel with Ezy Pesa (1%).
In 2020, Tanzania’s mobile money penetration reached 53% with 29.7 million mobile money subscriptions, with a $81 billion transaction value. In June of the same year, 272,339,270 mobile money transactions took place, for a total value of $4.6 billion.
Measured against the country’s population of approximately 56 million, around 40% of Tanzanians made use of mobile money technology in 2020.
The Dar Es Salaam Water and Sewerage Corporation also enabled water payments via mobile money in 2009. By 2013, mobile money payments had increased utility revenues by $45,000 per month.
Further, more than 70% of electricity bills in the country are now paid through mobile money services.
Tanzania was the first country in the world, in 2016, to achieve full interoperability. This is the ability of different mobile money network users to transact directly with each other.
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